& MRS,  MARYK LAMB 


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is* 

«£ 


IRENE  LJSCOMB 

A      STORY      OF      THE 
A    A    OLD     SOUTH     A    A 


...By... 

MRS.  MARY  E.  LAMB 

Author  of 
'  '  The  Mystery  of  Walderstein  '  ' 


BROADWAY    PUBLISHING    CO. 
835   Broadway,    New   York 


Copyright,  1908. 

BY 
MRS.     MARY     E.     LAMB 


All  rights  reserred. 


IRENE  LISCOMB 

I. 

REHEARSING  FOR  THE  WEDDING. 

There  was  hardly  ever  a  more  perfect  blonde 
than  this  Southern  girl,  with  her  graceful,  self- 
poised  personality.  Her  bride's  outfit  was  all 
finished;  even  the  last  package  of  toilet  knick- 
knacks  had  been  received  from  Philadelphia,  and 
duly  commented  on  by  her  nearest  friends. 

The  house  party  had  been  assembled  for  two 
days  already.  Games,  and  the  ball,  which  was 
yet  to  occur  before  the  departure  of  the  interest- 
ing couple,  were  enthusiastically  discussed.  In 
the  grand  old  mahogany  room  of  the  large  plan- 
tation house,  the  bridal  gown  had  been  spread 
out  on  the  bed  for  a  last  inspection  of  its  rich 
lace,  and  silken,  vapory  fabric.  The  veil  was 
rose  point  lace ;  one  her  mother  had  worn.  It 
had  been  manufactured  at  Venice. 

"No,  no,  I  cannot  try  it  on.  It  is  bad  luck  to 
try  on  the  wedding  dress  and  remove  it  before 
being  married  in  it,"  asserted  the  bride-to-be. 

"Dat's  right,  Mis'  Rene.  Bad  luck  come  sho 
uf  you  puts  on  dat  weddin'  dress,"  ventured  the 
black  mammy,  always  a  privileged  character  at 


2136821 


2  IRENE   LISCOMB 

Major  Liscomb's.  "Doan  you  put  on  dose  close 
dess  now;  uf  you  all  will  scuse  dis  nigga  for 
intertrudin'  huh  mouf." 

The  girls  laughed  at  the  earnestness  of  the 
woman;  making  some  demur,  however,  at  the 
bride's  decision. 

"What  an  awkward  situation  there  will  turn 
up,"  ventured  one,  "if  the  gown  cannot  be  worn 
at  the  last  moment." 

"And  suppose  it  is  too  tight,  and  cannot  be 
hooked,"  suggested  another. 

"And  the  bride  should  faint,"  continued  an- 
other. 

"I  shall  risk  all  these  dreadful  happenings," 
said  the  beautiful  bride. 

Another  declared,  "I  shall  be  in  a  terror  until 
I  see  Rene  on  the  arm  of  Captain  Stone,  march- 
ing towards  the  parlor  to  the  strains  of  Lohen- 
grin, I'm  sure,  if  she  doesn't  try  on  that  gown, 
and  teach  that  train  how  to  behave." 

The  air  of  superstition  obtruded  again  and 
again  amid  the  merry  suggestions  and  proposals. 

"Don't  let  us  forget  to  snip  the  thorns  from 
her  bouquet,  girls,  so  she'll  not  start  wildly  when 
the  bridegroom  takes  the  other  hand,"  laughingly 
warned  the  bridesmaid  to  be,  putting  on  a  look 
of  mock  terror. 

"Now,  further  to  avoid  bad  luck,  we've  got  to 
have  for  Rene  to  wear, 

'Something  old,  something  new, 
Something  borrowed,  something  blue.'  " 

"Well,  what  can  a  bride  wear  in  blue,  I  should 


IRENE   LISCOMB  3 

like  to  know,"  said  Alice  Wood,  a  sprightly  bru- 
nette. 

"Nothing  that  I  can  think  of,  unless  she  gather 
pale  blue  satin  around  her  garters " 

"And  cuts  them  into  bits,  then  divides  them 
with  the  nearest,  and  the  highest  of  the  guests 
after  the  ceremony,"  continued  some  one,  laugh- 
ing, "as  the  Princess  brides  of  the  Hohenzollerns 
do." 

"Really,  do  they  do  that  in  Germany,  Annie 
Miller?" 

"Yes,  it  is  done  at  Imperial  weddings  in  Prus- 
sia, and  the  Lord  Chamberlain  states  it,  in  his 
royally  authorized  report  of  the  ceremonies  for 
publication.  Of  course,  hers  not  being  sufficient, 
others  also  are  provided  for  distribution." 

"Rene,  will  you  wear  blue  ones?" 

"Yes,  but  I  shall  keep  mine  afterwards,  for 
luck." 

For  the  "Something  borrowed"  were  quickly 
volunteered  different  articles ;  for  it  was  deemed 
lucky  to  have  a  bride  wear  something  belonging 
to  one,  as  the  owner  would  be  the  next  to  be 
married,  so  said  the  proverbs. 

Finally,  the  old  article  was  chosen  from  the 
mother's  old  possessions.  It  was  a  tiny  ivory 
side  comb,  once  before  worn  at  the  bridal  cere- 
mony. 

"Do  let  us  try  on  the  gown,  please,  Rene," 
begged  Annie  Miller,  and  a  chorus  joined  in, 
"Please,  do !" 

"I  shall  not  try  on  the  gown,"  rather  decidedly 
answered  the  beautiful  girl,  and  they  nonchal- 
antly went  waltzing,  and  singing  toward  the 


4  IRENE   LISCOMB 

music  room,  where  the  bridal  song  was  put  under 
rehearsal. 

The  gentlemen  guests  returned  from  the  for- 
est, where  they  had  been  smoking  and  shooting 
the  most  of  the  morning.  Riding  on  horseback, 
and  in  carriages,  took  up  the  hours  of  the  late 
afternoon.  A  play  was  rendered  next  day;  and 
cards  and  readings  occupied  some  hours.  The 
ball  was  reserved  for  the  post-nuptial  affair,  be- 
fore the  going  away  hour.  It  was  a  happy 
time  for  all  concerned;  and  some  hearts  in  the 
merry  throng  were  already  wondering  how  soon 
might  their  own  nuptials  occur,  and  who  would 
the  other  party  be. 

The  very  choicest  scuppernong  had  been  set 
to  one  side  in  the  wine  cellar  for  this  festive  time, 
and  was  now  served  very  pompously  by  the 
blacks  to  "Mis'  Rene's  gran'  company,"  as  the 
young  people  were  called  by  Mammy  Nance, 
and  her  fellow  servitors. 

"Marse  Major  and  Mis'  Riah  'joyed  deyselves 
dess  lak  de  res'  of  um,"  good-naturedly  said 
they,  smiling  significantly  among  themselves,  as 
they  smacked  their  lips  over  the  remaining  scup- 
pernong. 

Long  had  they  looked  forward  to  this  time 
of  good  things;  and  eclat,  for  Captain  Budd 
Stone's  song  was  mighty  lively.  The  particular 
day  approached,  the  day  of  rehearsal. 

The  plantation  being  far  from  any  point  of 
travel  by  public  conveyance,  the  Reverend  Charles 
Ferdinand  Torrence  and  his  brown  valet  came 
by  horse  in  the  afternoon.  The  arrival  created 


IRENE   LISCOMB  5 

a  new  excitement  in  the  household,  and  "sobered" 
the  party  a  little. 

Annie  Miller  declared  it  started  the  shivers  up 
her  back,  for  it  looked  now  as  if  there  certainly 
would  be  a  "sure  enough"  wedding. 

Another  said  "How  lovely  it  all  is !  How  nice 
to  be  on  the  verge  of  getting  married!"  though 
really  all  of  them  grew  a  shade  graver  and  more 
thoughtful  in  demeanor  towards  evening. 

Later,  when  the  supper  was  served,  and  the 
dainty  beaten  biscuit  and  fresh  honey  passed, 
and  all  the  other  special  dishes  the  negro  cooks 
prided  themselves  on,  were  set  before  the  gay 
party,  Captain  Stone  and  Irene  Liscomb  were 
surely  a  bride  and  groom  to  be  greatly  compli- 
mented by  their  almost  worshipping  admirers, 
so  one  and  all  openly  declared. 

"How  handsome  they  were!  How  perfectly 
mated  they  seemed!  Happiness  was  certainly 
theirs  forever!" 

Such  thoughts  found  place  in  the  serene  mind 
of  the  Reverend  Charles  Ferdinand  Torrence,  as 
he  supped  with  this  merry  throng  at  the  planta- 
tion of  Major  and  Mrs.  Liscomb,  whose  happi- 
ness had  been  completed  by  their  son's  arrival 
from  a  Northern  college,  but  that  hour. 

After  the  smoke  on  the  veranda,  and  a  num- 
ber of  college  anecdotes,  both  of  a  former  time 
when  Mr.  Torrence  had  attended,  and  of  this 
later  epoch,  the  gentlemen  joined  the  ladies  in 
the  music  room.  Ned  Liscomb  led  the  concert 
with  a  lively  college  song,  but  gave  as  encore  a 
more  important  air,  at  that  time  very  much  in 
vogue  in  high  music  circles,  and  pronounced  by 


6  IRENE   LISCOMB 

Mr.  Torrence  as  "Colossal !"  in  imitation  of  his 
German  university  days. 

"No  slouch!"  added  Ned,  falling  into  affirma- 
tive slang. 

The  concert  lengthened  itself  out,  and  ended 
with  some  old  time  song  complimentary,  and  in 
deference  to  the  elder  persons  present. 

Then  the  event  of  the  evening  became  evident 
in  the  momentary,  breathless  silence  suddenly 
pervading  the  apartment,  and  the  subsiding  of 
the  remaining  guests  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
room. 

The  pianist,  with  strong,  martial  movement, 
commenced  the  wedding  march  from  Lohengrin, 
finally  lowering  the  strains  as  the  ceremony  was 
supposed  to  progress. 

The  maid  of  honor,  who  should  bear  the 
bride's  bouquet  to-morrow,  and  the  bride's  maids, 
who  should  bear  white  empire  staffs  wound  with 
pink  roses,  and  the  train  bearers,  followed. 
Bride  and  groom,  dignified  and  thoughtful,  took 
their  places.  All  were  shown  positions  for  to- 
morrow's pageant.  A  grand  burst  from  Men- 
delssohn's March,  and  the  rehearsal  was  fin- 
ished. Even  the  scramble  for  the  bride's  bouquet 
had  been  imagined. 

It  was  to  take  place  in  the  center  of  the  par- 
lors, the  bride  was  to  toss  it  from  an  elevation. 
Much  speculation  was  rife  as  to  who  indeed 
should  the  lucky  one  be ;  the  first  of  those  assem- 
bled to  get  it,  thereby  being  the  next  one  married. 

It  remained  only  to  drape  the  white  tulle  and 
smilax  and  place  the  flowers  to-morrow  morning 
for  the  grand  affair. 


IRENE  LISCOMB  7 

Alone  in  the  soft  moonlight,  a  mocking  bird 
wildly  trilling,  twittering,  whistling  divine  notes, 
the  lovers  had  a  fervent  parting  that  night  on 
the  balcony  of  the  old  plantation  house  of  Major 
Liscomb. 

She  lingered  for  some  time  in  the  air  after  he 
was  gone;  and  her  heart,  thrilling  with  the  ful- 
some joy  in  it,  longed  to  burst  into  the  song  of 
the  happy  mocking  bird,  yet  rilling  the  pale  quiet 
moonlight  with  melody. 

How  proud  and  handsome  he  had  seemed — 
more  grand  than  ever!  His  tall  physique  and 
military  bearing  always  charmed  her.  To-night 
his  fine  tenor  voice  was  full  of  pathos — beyond 
any  height  he  had  ever  attained,  in  the  glorious 
duet  they  had  sung  together. 

In  her  passionate,  arduous  love  dream  she  had 
given  herself  over  to  a  raphsody.  "He  is  mine — 
wholly  mine !"  her  lips  involuntarily  murmured. 

A  whippoorwill  had  flown  nearer  the  house 
from  the  long,  narrow,  swamp-like  thicket  not  far 
from  the  spot,  and  was  rapidly  and  sharply 
whistling  "Whippoorwill!  Whippoorwill!  \Vhip- 
poorwill !"  from  the  magnolia's  branches.  No 
one  called  this  tangle  a  swamp,  for  lively  spring 
branches  kept  the  water  in  a  brisk  circulation. 
The  gum  trees  supported  masses  of  mistletoe  in 
their  high  tops,  and  gray  moss  swung  from  other 
trees.  Turkey  buzzards  and  wild  turkeys  roosted 
in  dense  rendezvous  in  the  lonely  shadows. 
Echoes  slumbered  in  its  forests. 


IRENE   LISCOMB 


II. 

AN  UNEXPECTED  DISAPPEARANCE. 

Captain  Budd  Stone  had  mounted  his  horse, 
and  ridden  away  from  Major  Liscomb's  house 
in  an  ecstasy  of  happiness  that  night.  The  plan- 
tation of  his  uncle,  where  he  lived,  was  but  four 
miles  away  from  that  of  the  Liscomb  family,  yet 
it  was  morning  when  his  sleepy  valet,  whom  he 
had  sent  ahead,  let  him  into  the  house.  To  the 
astonishment  of  his  man,  he  staggered  to  his 
chamber,  apparently  almost  unable  to  get  there 
at  all,  like  one  intoxicated. 

An  hour  or  so  later,  clad  in  his  traveling  suit, 
he  mounted  Dan,  a  horse  with  an  enviable  rec- 
ord for  speed,  and  rode  away — forever! 

At  breakfast  it  was  learned  that  a  letter  had 
been  left  for  "Brown  Joe"  to  deliver,  some  time 
in  the  forenoon,  at  the  plantation  house  of  his 
affianced.  The  time  indefinite.  Strange ! 

The  relatives  were  simply  stunned ;  no  explana- 
tion was  vouchsafed  to  anyone!  and  they  could 
learn  nothing  of  the  meaning  of  the  proceeding 
whatever. 

It  put  the  household  into  an  unwonted  tur- 
moil. As  the  morning  fled  away,  the  mysterious 
conduct  of  the  usually  punctillious  Captain,  took 
on  monstrous  proportions ;  for  certainly  it  meant 


IRENE   LISCOMB  9 

an  unceremonious  postponement  of  the  nuptials. 

Time  was  passing,  and  the  Stones  must  be  over 
at  the  mansion  before  the  hour  of  high  noon,  of 
course.  Curiosity  rose  high.  Only  that  the  let- 
ter was  gone,  it  would  now  be  read  by  the 
groom's  relatives,  who  restlessly  paced  up  and 
down  the  veranda,  and  the  paths  of  the  rose 
garden. 

"What  dishonor  had  he  inflicted  on  her,  and 
on  them?  What  dishonor  had  he  discovered 
against  her?"  they  whispered  with  bated  breath. 

"Something — surely  something!  A  fine  way 
to  treat  her,  and  a  contemptible  way  to  leave  his 
friends  in  the  lurch !"  said  Mrs.  Stone  scornfully. 

"I  curse  him — /  curse  him!"  declared  the 
uncle,  his  face  purpling  with  rage,  and  fists 
tightly  clenched,  his  whole  body  trembling  with 
anger,  as  he  fairly  stamped  upon  the  gravelly 
path. 

Brown  Joe  returned  now  from  the  neighboring 
plantation,  almost  pale  with  what  he  had  wit- 
nessed during  the  fulfilment  of  his  commission. 

"What  is  it,  Joe?  What  has  happened?"  asked 
the  two  elderly  ones  in  one  breath,  going  hur- 
riedly toward  the  gate. 

"Ah  b'lieves  Mis'  Rene  is  daid,  sho  daid !  She 
looked  at  dat  papah,  dat  ah  done  gib  huh,  a  long, 
long  time  lak  she  could  ha'dly  make  it  out.  Purty 
soon  she  swayed  dis  day,  den  dat  way,  an'  she 
done  fell  out  lak  she's  sho  nuff  daid.  Dey  all 
run  towa'ds  her  a-hollerin.  Den  nex'  ah  knows 
dem  niggahs  ober  dar  dey  tuk  aftah  me,  lookin' 
mad  an'  mighty  mean,  an'  day  say  sorta  low, 
"You  git !"  Cose,  ah  diden'  stay,  for  dey  'sco'ted 


io  IRENE   LISCOMB 

me  to  de  road,  pinted  out  de  big  gate,  an'  tell  me 
agin,  madder  an'  madder,  "Now  you  git!  You 
trabel,  d'yo  heah?  You  Yankee  trash!"  Dey's 
right  much  in  earnest,  ah  reckon,  suh,  an'  a  nig- 
gah  hel'  dat  gate  open  fuh  me  to  pass  th'ough  it, 
while  dey  all  yells  out  mighty  loud  dis  time, 
'Niggah,  you  git!' ': 

Brown  Joe  had  been  up  North  with  Captain 
Stone  sometimes,  and  the  blacks  imagined  that 
he  had  put  on  airs  ever  since ;  so  they  were  glad 
to  get  a  chance  to  humiliate  him  now. 

Somehow  it  had  dawned  upon  them  that  he 
had  been  the  bearer  of  bad  tidings,  causing  Miss 
Rene  dire  woe,  and  they  were  ready  to  resent  it, 
tooth  and  nail ;  hence,  were  delighted  to  call  him 
the  hated  name,  Yankee. 

"Dat  imperdent  white  niggah  of  Marse  Budd's 
'magines  hisse'f  gitten  whiter  an'  whiter,  cos  he's 
ben  up  Nawth,  an'  et  his  vittals  'longside  white 
folks.  Reckon  dey  was  on'y  some  po'  white  trash 
dat  et  'longside  Brown  Joe,  howsumever,"  scorn- 
fully related  one  of  them. 

"Joe  he  say  dey  calls  him  'Mistah  Stone'  all  de 
time  he  up  Nawth,"  said  another  as  they  re- 
turned to  the  Liscomb  house,  that  they  had  so 
hurriedly  left. 

"Looks  mighty  lak  deys  goin'  to  be  no  weddin' 
up  to  de  house  now,  lak  all  go  to  smash,  'cause 
er  somepin  in  dat  er  papah  whut  she  look  at." 

"Whut  d'y'  reckon  dey'll  do  'bout  all  dem  good 
things  dey  got  to  eat,  now  ?" 

"G'long  'way  Pete !  Specs  you  done  tastin' 
em  dess  a'ready.  Dey  is  a  mighty  lot  of  em,  ah 
say,  boy." 


IRENE   LISCOMB  n 

"Dey  wus  right  many  chickens  sp'ilt  mixin'  up 
dat  salad  stuff ;  and,  roasted  apples,  to  put  in  dat 
Kaintucky  whiskey,  dess  tuck  out  de  oven,  and 
piled  on  dat  big  turkey  platter,  yum,  yum!"  and 
Tom's  mouth  already  watered  with  anticipation 
of  the  savory  cup. 

"De  peach  le  cure's  ben  already  opened,  an' 
dey  dahsent  'tempt  to  shet  it  up  agin,  'cause 
it  kin  be  drunk  at  de  qua'ters,  ah  reckon,"  and 
Sam  Thomson  looked  anxious  and  meaningly  at 
his  comrades. 

"Yessah,  it  can  be  pahtaken  of,  Mistah  Thom- 
son, ah  reckon!" 

As  they  neared  the  stricken  house,  their  faces 
grew  long,  and  they  assumed  their  usual  house 
manners.  Couriers  were  already  starting  out  to 
other  plantations  to  announce  that  the  wedding 
had  been  indefinitely  postponed.  This  quartet 
was  assigned  another  route,  on  the  same  commis- 
sion, by  Major  Liscomb. 

Ned  mounted  his  horse,  started  towards  the 
Stone  plantation,  with  hardly  any  defined  inten- 
tion. He  could  not  speak.  Like  everybody  else, 
he  was  dumb  with  astonishment.  He  had,  how- 
ever, dropped  a  revolver  into  his  pocket,  and 
thought  himself  very  calm,  but  the  deadly  calm 
was  dangerous. 

Reverend  Charles  Ferdinand  Torrence  had  fol- 
lowed the  young  student  into  the  court ;  as  he 
was  about  to  mount  his  horse  he  laid  his  hand 
earnestly  upon  his  arm,  and  with  solemn  and 
trembling  voice,  said, 

"Ned,  be  a  man;  be  a  righteous,  strong  man. 


12  IRENE  LISCOMB 

'Vengeance  is  mine/  said  the  Lord.  God  be 
with  you!" 

Ned  made  no  answer.  He  wished  Mr.  Tor- 
rence  had  not  come  out;  had  not  spoken.  It 
seemed  no  time  to  consider  peaceful,  holy  meas- 
ures; and,  as  he  crossed  the  saddle,  he  said  to 
himself,  "Torrence  knows  it  just  as  well  as  I  do; 
I  saw  it  in  his  demeanor,  plainly.  I  know  any 
man  would  act  as  I  am  acting,  even  Torrence." 

As  he  sped  over  the  four  miles  that  intervened 
between  the  two  plantation  houses  at  a  break- 
neck speed,  his  blood  fairly  foamed  with  fury. 
One  thing,  and  only  one,  stood  out  in  his  mind, 
clear  and  sharp  as  lightning,  and  that  was  the 
insult  that  had  been  put  upon  his  family,  upon  the 
honor  of  his  sister.  He  had  assured  himself  that 
she  still  lived  before  he  set  out  on  his  mission  of 
vengeance. 

Perhaps  it  had  been  better  if  she  were  already 
dead;  for  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  look  on  her 
face,  as  she  revived  from  her  swoon,  showed  no 
trace  of  mind ;  only  an  idiotic,  bewildered  grin ! 
He  gulped,  he  gasped,  as  possibilities  shaped 
themselves  in  his  maddened  imagination.  He 
rode  faster !  He  flung  open  gates,  and  left  them 
so! 

He  approached  the  veranda  at  last.  Then  he 
met  the  uncle  on  the  broader  walk  of  the  rose 
garden;  so  excited,  neither  could  speak  for  a 
moment.  He  saw  the  aunt  leaning  on  her  arms 
over  a  table  on  the  veranda,  from  her  chair,  her 
body  heaving  with  emotion.  The  truth  dawned 
upon  him.  Stone  was  truly  gone,  and  they  had 


IRENE   LISCOMB  13 

nothing  to  do  with  the  humiliating  facts  what- 
ever. He  was  baffled,  disappointed. 

All  the  circumstances  were  frankly  told  him; 
Captain  Stone  had  truly  disappeared,  as  certainly 
as  if  the  earth  had  swallowed  him  up,  without 
any  explanation  to  his  venerable  relatives. 

"God  will  make  it  plain  some  day,  Neighbor 
Ned,"  said  the  humiliated  old  man. 

'The  Lord  help  us!"  gasped  faintly  the  aunt, 
sobbing  and  sobbing  helplessly. 

"Bear  our  deepest  regrets  to  your  family,  I 
beg  you,  Mr.  Ned,"  added  Nathan  Stone. 

Ned  could  hardly  bring  himself  to  make  any 
show  of  politeness  to  the  couple,  though  he 
raised  his  hand  a  time  or  two  involuntarily,  as  if 
intending  to  respectfully  touch  his  hat  as  he 
rode,  nonplussed  and  confused,  away. 

At  the  boundary  line  of  the  plantations,  he  met 
the  three  other  young  men  who  had  followed  him 
from  the  house  of  sudden  and  mysterious  afflic- 
tion. 

They  halted  with  questioning  looks  on  their 
faces,  rather  gratified  at  the  apparent  outcome 
of  Ned's  mad  errand. 

"Hurry,  boys,  let's  begone  quick!  I've  seen 
where  his  horse  left  the  main  road.  Damn  him, 
I'm  not  done  with  him,  as  sure  as  my  name  is 
Xed  Liscomb!" 

"Hold,  Ned,  hold  on,  I  say.  Wait!  Here  is 
what  Rene — Miss  Rene  says.  She  started  us  to 
overtake  you  and  ask  you  to  do  no  violence — 
not  to  pay  any  attention  to  Stone." 

"You  go  to — Lew  Martyn.  She  has  not  come 
to  her  senses  enough  to  know  what  she's  talking 


14  IRENE   LISCOMB 

about.  I  mean  to  overtake  him  to-day.  He  may 
have  a  chance  to  explain — he  may  not,"  said  Ned 
Liscomb  in  animated  tone. 

"I  should  surely  listen  to  my  sister.  It's  her 
affair,"  interrupted  Lew  Martyn,  dismounting 
as  if  he  meant  not  to  follow,  for  one,  at  least. 

"Ned,  boy,  be  reasonable.  Treat  that  ass  with 
silent  contempt.  I  know  that  is  what  Miss  Rene 
wants  you  to  do,"  entreated  the  groom's  best 
man.  "Trust  her  judgment  in  this." 

All  had  dismounted  but  Ned,  who  could  not 
submit  his  will  to  the  dominance  of  his  young 
friends  at  once.  He  turned  again  towards  his 
father's  house,  saying, 

"I'll  go  home  and  see  Sis,  at  any  rate.  Damn 
him!" 

A  calmness  succeeded  this  tempest  of  excite- 
ment; speculation  became  rampant.  It  was  fig- 
ured out  that  between  the  time  Stone  left  Major 
Liscomb's  place,  and  the  almost  hour  of  dawn, 
when  he  had  been  admitted  to  the  house  of  his 
uncle  in  such  a  state  of  collapse,  something  ex- 
traordinary had  undoubtedly  happened  to  him. 
What  could  it  have  been? 

The  Reverend  Charles  Ferdinand  Torrence 
was  going  away  as  the  quartet  of  manhunters 
were  returning,  a  bit  sheepishly,  to  the  house. 
He  assured  himself  that  all  was  well,  and  rode 
on. 

Most  of  the  guests  of  the  house  party  had  al- 
ready gone  away,  finding  it  more  suitable  to 
Miss  Rene,  who  could  meet  none  of  them  before 
going,  remaining  in  bed,  in  her  own  room. 

Ned's  mother  took  him  immediately  to  his  sis- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  15 

ter,  the  three  companions  having  mutely  waived 
a  parting  with  him  at  the  outer  gate.  Rene 
started  up,  questioning  him  rebukingly, 

"Oh,  Ned,  you  haven't — you  haven't  done 
any  mad  thing,  have  you?  Look  at  me!  Have 
you?" 

"No,  Sis,  he  was  really  gone!" 

"Read  that  note,  Ned.  You  did  not  wait  to 
read  it!  See  the  handwriting!  He  was  crazy — 
crazy!  Can't  you  see  that  in  the  scribble  he  has 
made  of  it?  He  broke  the  promise  unwillingly." 

"I  shall  not  forget  the  suffering  he  has  caused 
you,  Rene.  I  know  what  it  is." 

"It  is  over.  I  promise  you  not  to  suffer,  if 
only  you  will  pay  no  attention  to  the  affair.  I 
shall  put  him  away  from  my  thoughts  forever, 
Ned!  Forever,  yes,  forever!" 

Rene  choked  hard  as  she  uttered  the  words. 
He  could  not  answer  for  a  minute,  then  said, 

"So,  Rene,  it  is  a  compact.  Away  forever!" 
and  he  repeated  the  words  slowly  and  earnestly, 
and  she  followed  him  with  low  and  hoarse  voice, 
"Away  forever!"  though  her  face  had  grown 
whiter  than  snow,  and  she  saw  nothing  about  her 
for  a  long  time;  in  fact,  she  believed  she  was 
dying ! 

What  had  changed  Captain  Budd  Stone?  Ned 
left  the  room,  almost  falling  in  a  collapse  him- 
self from  the  nerve  tension  and  excited  events  of 
the  wretched  morning.  His  mother  tried  to  in- 
fluence him  to  be  calm,  but  he  was  feverishly 
nervous. 


1 6  IRENE   LISCOMB 


III. 

THE   HORRORS   OF   WAR. 

Affairs  soon  took  their  wonted  course  at  the 
plantation.  Mammy  Nance  was  to  have  gone, 
as  maid,  to  the  new  home  along  with  Miss  Rene. 
Each  bride  had  that  much  of  the  old  home  sur- 
roundings when  she  left  the  home  of  her  mother 
in  that  day.  That  was  the  invariable  custom. 

Nance  was  a  little  put  out  when  the  wedding 
fell  through,  but  no  mention  of  the  affair  ever 
crossed  her  lips,  nor  did  she  tolerate  a  word 
from  the  other  servants. 

Tongues  wagged  in  the  county  for  a  while, 
but  all  their  fabrications  were  toppled  over  by 
the  all  absorbing  topic  of  war,  now  dominating 
everything  else  in  the  land.  War  between  the 
Northern  and  Southern  sections  of  the  country 
seemed  longer  unavoidable.  Everybody  went 
from  home  armed. 

Disputes,  personal  encounters  in  the  Halls  of 
Congress  had  occurred.  A  new  Confederation 
was  under  consideration.  A  secession  of  the 
South  from  the  North  had  been  declared  by 
some  Southern  States,  soon  to  be  followed  by 
most  of  the  rest  of  them  falling  into  their  ranks. 

The  Southern  Confederacy  was  organized 
finally,  a  President  and  Cabinet  chosen. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  17 

blavery  could  not  be  extended  into  the  terri- 
tories by  law,  and  was  being  tried  by  ruffianism. 
Border  warfare  shot  down  good  and  law-abiding 
citizens  and  terrorized  the  others  who  came. in 
their  way. 

A  storm  was  gathering,  whose  dimensions 
and  roar  would  shake  the  civilized  world.  Seces- 
sion from  the  North  was  now  a  fact.  Slavery 
caused  the  rupture.  Slavery  must  go.  There 
had  been  talk  of  the  United  States  Government 
buying  the  slaves  and  freeing  them.  This  was 
not  listened  to.  The  institution  of  slavery  had 
outgrown  any  possibility  of  its  long  existence, 
though  it  dragged  out  a  few  more  months. 

Fort  Sumter  was  fired  on  by  the  South.  Then 
United  States  President  Lincoln  called  out  sev- 
enty-five thousand  troops,  and  the  war  was  on. 

The  Rebellion  was  in  full  blast.  War,  with  all 
its  hideousness,  its  demoralizing,  unspeakable 
ruin,  was  precipitated;  God  knows  why,  upon 
brothers  of  one  blood,  one  country,  with  its  mad- 
ness and  curse.  And  the  seller  and  the  buyer  of 
slaves  held  responsible. 

Strains  of  military  music  sounded  everywhere. 
Some  remote,  some  near  by.  In  every  town  and 
village,  North  or  South,  every  heart  was  burst- 
ing with  patriotism,  and  felt  wild  to  be  away  to 
the  front. 

The  Union  must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards. 
The  new  Confederacy  must  be  maintained  at  all 
hazards.  And  so,  in  the  supreme  purposes,  men 
left  the  hearthstone;  provident,  or  improvident; 
the  bedside  of  new-born  babe,  the  shop,  the 
farm,  the  professions,  in  this  pell  mell  rush  to 


i8  IRENE  LISCOMB 

enlist  in  the  ranks  to  slay  his  brother,  as  the  pur- 
pose might  call  him. 

What  had  woman  to  do  in  the  business  on 
hand?  Flags  were  made,  lint  was  scraped,  and 
bandages  were  rolled  by  women,  who  could  raise 
no  word  of  remonstrance  against  this  savagery! 

They  would  themselves  go  and  join  their  patri- 
otic brothers,  to  die  beside  them  if  need  be,  if 
only  permitted. 

After  the  first  blast  of  the  tempest,  some  of 
the  cooler  blooded  remained  at  home,  a  few  to 
criticize,  to  handicap  the  warriors  by  treachery. 
( It  is  some  people's  nature  to  be  ever  on  the  other 
side.)  The  Northerners  of  this  type  were  called 
"Copperheads"  and  "Butternuts!"  The  South- 
erners generally  invited  these  opponents  of  their 
rank  to  "Git;"  and  with  show  of  tar  and  feath- 
ers, inclined  them  to  travel  to  more  agreeable 
climates.  If  found  traitors,  going  over  to  the 
Yankees,  they  were  promptly  strung  up ! 

The  army  was  source  enough  surely  for  labor 
and  expense,  without  these  unexpected  evils  to 
both  North  and  South.  But  that  was  another 
consequence  of  the  demoralized  conditions 
brought  about  by  war.  Powder  and  ball  soon 
backed  up  this  family  quarrel,  and  thousands  of 
precious  human  lives  were  blotted  out!  And 
new  cemeteries  filled  to  overflowing.  Every 
home,  North  or  South,  was  in  mourning  in  the 
fair  land.  Deep  mourning! 

There  was  none  to  raise  grain,  and  food  was 
scarce.  The  blockade  cut  off  the  imports. 

The  negro  was  quitting  the  tobacco  and  cotton 
fields  in  squads.  Especially  was  it  hard  on  the 


IRENE   LISCOMB  19' 

South,  for  the  invader's  stores  not  being  always 
at  hand,  he  devoured  whatever  fell  under  his 
eye  or  his  hand ;  the  stores  of  his  enemy. 

Even  salt  was  impossible  sometimes.  One 
family  dug  up  the  drippings — soaked  soil  from 
the  smoke  house,  where  salted  meat  had  hung, 
and  boiled  and  strained  it  to  get  a  taste  of  sea- 
soning for  their  boiled  herbs,  or  chance  bird,  or 
fish.  This  was  South. 

In  the  North,  parched  wheat  and  sweet  pota- 
toes made  the  coffee  supply.  Dry  goods  rose  to 
enormous  prices.  Cheese  cloths  and  unbleached 
muslins  dyed  with  walnut  juice  were  luxuries 
for  the  well-to-do.  Estates,  very  many  involved 
by  debt  and  mortgage,  never  survived  the  ex- 
pense of  this  experiment,  two  governments  in 
one  country. 

Woe  to  the  dame  who  undertook  to  defend  a 
pullet,  a  cow  or  a  calf  from  some  squad  or  forag- 
ing gang  of  deserters  from  either  army,  or  the 
run-away  blacks  from  other  plantations,  or  from 
real  soldiers  whose  officers  were  not  looking  on 
at  the  moment.  That  dame  might  get  all  the 
buildings  of  the  isolated  plantation  burned,  and 
her  cattle  slaughtered  before  her  eyes.  Hard 
consequence  of  war,  which  perhaps  she  had  no 
hand  in  bringing  about,  but  that  is  the  other  side 
of  noble  war,  and  yet  a  very  certain  one  always. 

The  negro  was  impatient  to  try  this  new  thing, 
freedom,  that  they  were  told  the  Yankee  was 
bringing  him.  They  cared  little  if  the  Yankee 
was  a  thief,  a  murderer,  as  was  also  told  them, 
for  at  Major  Liscomb's  plantation  one  day,  as 
this  army  approached,  Sam  Thomson  whispered 


2O  IRENE  LISCOMB 

to  Pete,  "Dey  is  mos'  heah ;  dey  is  ovah  at  Shady 
Grove  dis  minute.  Dey  is  comin'  to  git  us." 

"Thank  de  Lord.    Hallelujah !    Jesus !" 

Then  with  the  next  breath  he  said  to  Miss 
Rene,  with  all  the  pomp  of  loyalty, 

"Yessum,  ah'll  shoot  'em  sho  if  dey  come 
heah.  Ah'll  git  dem  scamps." 

Major  Liscomb  sent  the  negroes  to  some  other 
part  of  the  grounds  while  he  and  the  women  ran 
to  the  cellar  with  the  boxes  of  silverware.  There 
was  not  time  to  store  them  in  an  old  grave  in 
the  family  burying  ground,  as  they  had  meant 
to,  if  soldiers  should  be  expected  their  way.  In 
the  cellar  was  another,  a  wine  cellar,  all  fallen 
in.  They  placed  the  boxes  there,  threw  all  the 
rubbish  at  hand  over  them;  cans,  jugs,  bottles, 
casks,  and  poured  a  barrel  of  the  old  housekeep- 
er's ashes  over  the  pile. 

The  mob  was  not  a  quarter  of  mile  away  when 
they  returned  to  receive  their  unwelcome  and 
uninvited  guests. 

The  jewels  were  hastily  packed  in  as  small 
compass  as  possible,  and  hidden  in  the  women's 
clothing.  They  looked  about  upon  the  grand 
suites  of  furniture,  the  works  of  art,  the  rugs, 
and  musical  instruments  with  a  helpless  sort  of 
woebegone  farewell ;  believing  they  were  in  their 
last  hours  of  existence  for  them.  Especially 
would  it  be  hard  to  see  their  forefather's  por- 
traits and  mahoganies  broken,  burned  or  carried 
off  by  the  marauders.  And  the  knick-knacks 
that  had  been  carried  home  from  other  lands, 
souvenirs  of  travel,  go  in  the  general  loss. 

At  last  the  soldiers  in  blue,  under  a  captain, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  21 

were  halting  in  the  shade  of  the  great  oaks  in 
front  of  the  mansion.  Having  a  captain  signified 
a  little  hope  to  Major  Liscomb  that  they  might 
halt  a  few  minutes,  and  then  march  orderly 
away.  It  was  a  very  warm  day.  The  troops 
were  not  slow  in  dropping  all  accoutrements, 
stacking  guns,  doffing  hats,  coats,  canteens,  and 
breaking  ranks  in  the  superb  shade. 

Major  Liscomb  came  out  on  the  veranda,  and 
in  his  fine  old  Southern  manner,  saluted  the  cap- 
tain, who  was  already  approaching  the  house. 

"Do  I  meet  Captain  Ned  Liscomb?"  he  asked, 
likewise  saluting. 

"No,  no,  sir!  I'm  his  father,  Major  Nathan 
Liscomb,"  was  answered,  "a  major  in  the  Mexi- 
can War,  sir.  Whom  do  I  greet?"  and  he  put 
one  hand  behind  his  ear  to  aid  in  hearing  the 
pompous  officer  in  blue. 

"I  am  Captain  Long  of  Co.  E."  The  regi- 
ment he  did  not  mention,  as  he  did  not  consider 
it  necessary.  "I  have  been  sent  to  search  for 
Captain  Ned  Liscomb.  It  is  a  disagreeable  duty. 
I  can  have  the  freedom  of  the  house,  I  suppose, 
sir." 

"Certainly,  unless  you  can  believe  the  word  of 
a  gentleman.  Captain  Ned  Liscomb  is  positively 
not  in  this  house!" 

Other  men  soon  joined  the  captain,  and  they 
started  on  a  tour  of  search  through  the  house. 

Then  the  wrath  of  the  old  man  knew  no 
bounds.  He  ordered  them  from  his  premises. 
Called  them  "Lincoln  Dogs;"  said  "The  South 
had  a  right  to  secede  from  the  North  to  protect 
their  rights.  Also  said  "If  Ned  Liscomb  was 


22  IRENE   LISCOMB 

raising  a  company  of  soldiers,  it  was  to  protect 
them  in  the  right  of  secession.  Yes,  I  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. Yes,  certainly  I  did,  and  I  ask  you  to  see 
that  my  property  is  protected  now  as  you  lead 
these  Lincoln  hirelings  through  my  home." 

Meanwhile,  some  of  the  soldiers  had  taken  the 
kitchen  and  cellar  under  inspection.  Picking  up 
whatever  they  found  ready  to  eat.  They  went  to 
cellar  and  to  garret,  into  bedrooms,  into  the  meat 
house,  and  meal  house  on  their  man  hunt. 
Finally,  they  all  met  again  in  front,  and  after 
resting  there  deliberately  for  a  few  minutes, 
marched  away  toward  the  Stone  plantation,  but 
"spoiling"  to  fire  into  the  house. 

After  midnight  another,  a  decidedly  mixed 
crowd,  this  time  hangers  on  of  the  army,  who 
kept  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  troops,  ap- 
proached the  beautiful  mansion.  These  were  of 
all  sorts  of  ruffians:  Northern,  Southern  and 
black.  Their  boisterous  and  outrageous  conduct 
boded  no  good,  and  the  only  remaining  ones  in 
the  house  struck  out  for  the  old  cabin  in  the 
swamp. 

In  a  few  hours  the  palatial  old  house  was  in 
ashes.  The  last  slave  joined  this  crowd.  The 
other  remaining  few,  Pete,  Sam  Thomson,  Lew 
Martyn  and  Tom  had  followed,  some  hours  be- 
fore, in  the  captain's  wake,  towards  the  Stone 
plantation. 

Mammy  Nance,  with  one  of  the  old  cooks, 
chose  to  stick  to  the  destinies  of  "Marster  Ma- 
Jah"  and  "Mis'  Riah."  They  were  certainly 
very  useful  in  the  miserable  days  to  come. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  23 

It  never  occurred  to  any  of  them  to  try  to  find 
the  silver.  They  supposed  it  all  melted  up  in  the 
bottom  of  the  second  cellar.  Moreover,  they  had 
no  place  to  carry  it  in  their  homeless  condition. 
They  only  hoped  that  Ned  would  keep  out  of 
reach  of  those  now  seeking  his  arrest  here  at 
home.  And  it  was  quite  possible  that  he  was 
over  in  the  vicinity  of  Chattanooga.  It  had  been 
some  days  since  he  had  marched  away  with  the 
company  he  had  raised  in  that  county. 

The  following  night,  before  it  had  yet  been 
possible  to  get  out  of  the  parish,  they  saw  the 
flames  from  the  burning  buildings  on  the  Stone's 
plantation.  The  fire  had  also  reached  the  long, 
slender  thicket,  called  by  some  the  swamp.  Its 
long  grasses  and  shrubbery,  its  old  gum  trees, 
and  pines  made  fine  food  for  the  flames,  which 
lighted  up  miles  of  territory  vividly  and  for  a 
long  time. 


24  IRENE  LISCOMB 


IV. 

NO  REMEDY  BUT  TO  FACE  IT. 

To  the  parents  of  Irene  Liscomb  it  was  a  hard 
trial  to  find  themselves  homeless — everything 
gone  in  a  night.  She  was  grieved  for  her  pa- 
rents' sake;  it  was  indeed  sad  to  see  what  a  bit- 
ter trial  it  was  for  them;  for  her  own  sake,  it 
was  not. 

She  did  not  wish  to  live  longer  in  the  county 
where  she  might  at  any  moment  hear  the  name 
of  Captain  Budd  Stone,  or  meet  his  friends,  or 
sometime,  meet  him. 

She  could  begin  life  anew  in  another  country, 
or  in  a  remote  part  of  her  own  land.  The  family 
had  long  contemplated  a  sojourn  abroad.  More 
than  ever  it  seemed  the  thing  to  do,  since  Major 
Liscomb  had  made  himself  unpopular  among  his 
friends,  in  always  doubting  the  results  of  the 
war.  He  had  joined  the  Secessionists  never; 
but  remained  among  his  old  neighbors  rather 
than  desert  Ned,  who  was  an  intense  Secession- 
ist, and  he  had  a  rough  time. 

The  father  had  tried  to  save  his  property  from 
confiscation  by  taking  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
United  States  Government.  He  tried  hard  not 
to  oppose  those  who  saw  things  differently  from 
his  view  of  them,  and  suffered  persecutions. 


IRENE   LTSCOMB  25 

The  funds  of  the  South  were  fast  disappear- 
ing. The  establishment  of  money  of  their  own 
was  necessary.  The  issuing  of  Confederate 
script  bolstered  up  the  prospects  of  the  South 
for  a  little  time,  though  really  increasing  their 
war  debt.  All  their  fortunes  had  been  ventured 
on  the  experiment;  and  the  uncertainty  of  hold- 
ing on  to  the  slaves  was  increasing  every  day. 
Even  so,  the  new  Confederacy  was  uncertain. 
Whether  Lincoln  freed  them  or  not,  they  would 
eventually  go  free ;  that  thing  seemed  rather  cer- 
tain. Luckily,  Major  Liscomb  had  sold  and 
hired  out  very  many  of  his  three  hundred  slaves, 
though  all  the  price  had  not  yet  been  paid  in. 
He  was,  however,  better  off  than  the  most  of  his 
acquaintances.  The  slaves  were  mostly  cor- 
ralled on  remote  plantations,  lodged  in  pens,  and 
hired,  personally,  out. 

They  had  become  a  menace  and  a  useless  ex- 
pense to  their  masters  generally,  but  they  held 
grimly  on  to  them.  Really  they  would  have  been 
glad  to  be  loose  from  them,  as  the  country  now 
was.  But  the  old  pride  held  out,  and  they  knew 
no  surrender  now,  more  than  they  knew  in  the 
legislative  halls  in  1860,  when  they  left  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

Poorer  and  poorer  they  found  themselves,  with 
all  this  slave  property  on  their  hands,  which  now 
could  not  be  turned  into  money.  Ah,  and  the 
youth  nearly  all  sacrificed  in  the  many  success- 
ful and  unsuccessful  brave  battles! 

It  was  Cousin  Jonas  Wilson  of  High  Point 
who  came  out  to  the  swamp  and  insisted  on 


26  IRENE  LISCOMB 

housing  the  Liscomb  family  until  they  could  find 
better  quarters. 

Cousin  Jonas  had  a  family  of  fifteen  children; 
ten  belonged  to  him  and  his  first  wife;  five  to 
his  second  wife  (a  cousin  to  him  and  his  first 
wife)  who  brought  her  five  to  the  plantation 
when  she  came  there  as  stepmother.  Then  she 
and  Cousin  Jonas  had  a  partnership  son,  whom 
they  both  declared  they  never  counted  at  all. 

"A  mighty  few  eatables  are  left  since  the 
foragers  passed  over  our  place,  but  my  wife  has 
yet  right  many  jars  of  preserved  figs  and  of 
plums  she  had  hidden  fine,  which  the  Yanks  did 
not  discover." 

"Yes,  yes,  I've  a  big  family  to  look  after,  for 
there  are  three  yet  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  rela- 
tives, though  they've  means  of  their  own,  I  must 
give  them  attention,  you  know." 

The  intermarriages  of  this  family  for  years 
and  years  had  made  these  conditions.  It  was  a 
typical  family  of  some  parts  of  the  South. 
Cousin  Jonas'  wife  always  called  him  "Cousin 
Jonas."  Indeed  he  was  cousined  by  some  not  at 
all  related  to  him  by  blood.  It  seemed  a  compli- 
mentary cognomen  everywhere.  He  was  a  good 
and  important  citizen,  and  the  Liscombs  were 
certainly  appreciative  of  the  fact,  as  they  were 
"dug  up  and  taken  in,"  as  Miss  Rene  termed  it 
when  they  were  added  to  this  brimfull  house  of 
cousins  at  Jonas  Wilson's. 

She  declared  she  was  glad  to  quit  their  neigh- 
bors— the  owls,  the  frogs  and  the  moccasins  of 
the  swamp. 

That  night,  the  figs  and  the  plums  were  served 


IRENE   LISCOMB  27 

along  with  biscuits,  made  of  the  last  white  flour 
left  on  the  plantation.  For  raising  the  bread  a 
little  lye  from  some  white  ashes  and  some  sour 
milk  had  been  used.  The  cow  had  been  butch- 
ered before  their  eyes,  so  there  would  be  no  more 
milk. 

"But  we've  still  a  house,"  said  the  wife. 
"Cousin  Jonas,  ask  the  blessing !" 

Tea  was  made  from  spicewood  twigs,  gath- 
ered from  fence  corners.  The  welcome  meal 
was  declared  a  feast  by  the  homeless  and  hungry 
party.  How  comfortable  it  would  be  to  sleep 
to-night  on  a  bed,  though  that  bed  were  taken 
from  one  of  the  cousins. 

A  twinge  of  conscience  would  have  rebuked 
them,  but  they  could  feel  nothing ;  they  were  too 
worn  out  with  the  mental  and  physical  tortures 
of  the  last  hours,  so  took  some  of  the  cousins' 
beds  without  demur  and  half  asleep. 

How  kind  of  Cousin  Jonas  to  propose  tucking 
them  away  at  once!  They  had  caught  up  some 
indispensable  toilet  articles  in  their  rush  from 
the  mob. 

Next  morning  the  family  went  to  take  leave  of 
the  home.  The  boxes  of  silverware  and  foreign 
china  bric-a-brac  the  Liscombs  had  buried  in  the 
little  old  caved  in  wine  cellar  must  have  been 
ruined  by  the  fire,  so  they  thought  it  unnecessary 
to  even  investigate.  Besides,  a  chimney  had  top- 
pled into  it,  and  the  brick  and  stones  were  yet 
hot,  with  no  tools  to  remove  them,  nor  no  work- 
man in  the  vicinity,  nor  any  safer  place  to  store 
them,  in  case  they  were  found  intact. 

There  would  be  no  possible  sale  of  the  planta- 


28  IRENE  LISCOMB 

tion  while  the  war  lasted,  hence  they  left  it.  The 
fine  oaks  had  been  chopped  into  to  kill  them ;  the 
shrubbery  ruined  by  the  horses  and  mules  be- 
longing to  the  mob.  It  was  curious  indeed  to  see 
a  hen  and  chickens.  The  hen  was  lustily  scratch- 
ing, with  encouraging  promises  to  her  little  ones. 
Where  or  how  she  had  escaped  the  havoc  was 
truly  a  wonder.  It  may  have  been  that  she  had 
been  setting  under  the  floor  of  an  old  corn  crib 
some  distance  away  in  a  field  and  had  just 
hatched  her  brood  since  quiet  had  come  to  the 
place,  by  the  utter  desolation  fallen  upon  it.  Even 
she  felt  the  loneliness. 

She  was  quickly  taken  by  Mammy  Nance  over 
to  Cousin  Jonas'  plantation,  to  start  anew  the 
poultry  breeding  over  there,  for  not  even  so 
much  had  been  left  him.  She  and  her  little 
princelings  were  royally  received,  and  royally 
attended. 

When  the  house  of  cousins  and  the  Liscomb 
family  were  at  dinner,  a  messenger  arrived  re- 
questing Cousin  Jonas  to  come  over  to  a  neigh- 
bor's, full  five  miles  away,  to  perform  the  burial 
service  over  the  remains  of  one  of  Captain  Ned's 
soldiers,  'as  no  clergyman  remained  in  the  coun- 
ty. All  had  marched  with  troops  towards 
Chickamauga  some  days  before. 

There  had  been  a  skirmish,  several  had  been 
killed,  and  Captain  Ned  had  been  seriously 
wounded;  perhaps  lay  dead  at  the  moment  this 
news  was  received.  Major  Liscomb  set  out  at 
once  to  try  to  pass  the  lines,  and  get  him  into  the 
home  hospital,  if  possible. 

It  was  difficult  work;  the  many  useless  delays 


IRENE   LISCOMB  29 

in  sending  the  old  man  from  post  to  post,  was 
simply  maddening.  But  he  won  out  by  a  strange 
power  of  resolution  against  sore  and  overtaxed 
nerves.  Ned  barely  lived  when  he  found  him, 
and  for  days  hovered  on  the  borders  of  the 
grave.  He  was  indeed  seriously  wounded.  The 
hospital  was  over  full,  the  nurses  worn  out,  and 
visits  from  the  most  skilled  of  their  surgeons 
rare.  These  were  coerced  into  overwork,  far  be- 
yond their  ability,  for  the  moving  troops  of  both 
factions. 

Mammy  Nance  worked  hard  at  the  hospital, 
while  the  old  cook,  Eliza,  put  her  time  in  at 
Cousin  Jonas',  and  at  the  hospital  three  miles  dis- 
tant. 

"Right  much  of  a  walk  to  tote  soup,  ah  reck- 
ons," she  observed  one  day  when  she  was  start- 
ing to  the  hospital  with  a  large  bucket  of  soup, 
made  of  manna,  so  far  as  could  be  made  out  by 
any  single  person  of  the  household,  for  each  one 
had  found  an  herb,  a  rabbit,  a  bird  or  squirrel 
to  add. 

Sheep  sorrel  was  the  flavoring  element,  and 
stray  grains  from  the  bare  fields  used. 

After  a  month's  effort  of  indescribable  work 
and  hardship  and  anxiety,  Major  Liscomb  got 
passes  for  his  family  North.  He  meant  to  get 
Ned  into  a  sanitarium  in  New  York,  and  if  pos- 
sible, prevail  on  him  to  go  abroad,  if  he  should 
ever  be  able  to  be  carried  out  of  his  own  land. 
He  doubted  it,  however,  when  he  looked  upon  his 
wretched  and  emaciated  body.  The  fatigue  and 
experiences  of  the  journey  North  almost  fin- 
ished him  when  he  took  it.  When  he  was  car- 


30  IRENE   LISCOMB 

ried  to  the  hospital  he  was  almost  beyond  help. 
Youth  alone  seemed  to  hold  soul  and  body  to- 
gether, and  keep  a  slight  throb  in  the  tired  heart. 
Often  he  looked  so  like  one  dead  that  his  family 
believed  he  was  indeed  gone.  All  care  for  life 
had  ceased.  Delirium  seemed  exhausted,  and 
no  sign  of  thought,  or  dream,  appeared  to  live 
any  more  in  him. 

Mother,  father,  sister,  nurse  were  all  the  same ; 
he  did  not  open  his  eyes  to  see  who  served  him 
now.  He  swallowed  only  because  the  fluids 
given  him  compelled  the  muscles  to  act. 

Frantic,  the  father  appealed  to  the  hospital 
authorities  to  bring  some  one,  something,  to  save 
him.  The  latest  new  remedy  was  given;  the 
heart  seemed  to  respond  fitfully.  Then  more 
strongly,  and  Captain  Ned,  once  the  favorite  of 
his  county,  the  most  gallant  of  the  very  gallant 
South,  began  again  to  live!  But  oh,  so  uncer- 
tain !  for  the  rally  might  be  the  beginning  of  the 
end  only,  but  the  flash  of  a  startled  spark,  not 
the  permanent  current  of  a  human  life  that  had 
almost  flowed  out. 

Ah,  that  reviving  life!  It  took  a  long,  long 
time  to  secure  its  foothold  again.  How  could 
the  beauty  and  strength  of  the  young  man  ever 
return !  It  was  long  before  he  could  even  think 
or  care  for  anything.  When  at  last  he  was  able 
to  think,  that  was  worse  still,  for  everything  was 
wrong.  He  could  not  understand  the  things  that 
were  done  for  his  welfare,  and  wished  they 
would  just  let  him  alone.  It  seemed  to  him  life 
was  not  worth  so  much  trouble  as  they  were  be- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  31 

stowing  on  it.  How  stupid  and  silly  it  all  was ! 
and  he  sank  away  into  another  collapse. 

One  day  he  started  out  of  one  of  these  stu- 
pors, like  one  who  has  had  a  vivid  dream,  and  is 
shocked  by  it.  He  looked  around,  seemed  dis- 
appointed, restless  and  excited.  He  was  ques- 
tioned. 

"I  heard  some  one  speak  I  used  to  know,  I'm 
sure."  Too  weak  now  to  pursue  the  subject 
further,  he  slept  again.  When  he  woke,  he  mar- 
velled that  no  nurse  was  in  the  room,  but  he  had 
a  sensation  as  if  his  heart  were  beating  unusu- 
ally loud,  but  as  he  listened  more  attentively,  he 
found  that  his  head  was  pillowed  on  an  arm 
close  to  the  heart  of  another,  and  it  was  this  other 
one  he  heard. 

Raising  his  eyes,  they  met  the  tender,  beauti- 
ful dark  eyes  of  her  he  loved  before  all  else  on 
earth — Alice  Wood. 

Alice  Wood,  his  betrothed,  had  come  on  to 
New  York  alone.  How  she  ever  got  through, 
was  a  miracle  in  the  eyes  of  Major  Liscomb's 
family. 

The  way  she  accomplished  it  was  by  wearing 
the  garb  of  an  army  nurse.  She  had  procured 
it  once  to  go  with  some  young  friends  to  do  real 
nurse  work  after  a  battle ;  then  wore  it  one  time 
to  see  Ned. 

It  now  answered  her  purpose  as  disguise  and 
protection,  for,  of  course,  she  was  a  nurse  going 
North  to  recuperate,  and  the  profession  was  al- 
ways respected.  She  had  been  near  Ned  often; 
the  dress  serving  even  here  to  procure  admission 


32  IRENE  LISCOMB 

to  the  hospital ;  and  she  was  really  learning  much 
of  a  nurse's  duties. 

The  invalid  certainly  made  rapid  progress 
now,  though  some  days  came  again,  and  again 
when  they  despaired  of  his  recovery.  After  two 
months  he  was  carried  from  the  hospital  to  a 
delightful  place  upon  the  Hudson  River  oppo- 
site the  Palisades. 

The  family  and  his  fiancee  were  always  near 
him,  and  often  read  him  the  war  news  when  he 
was  able  to  hear  it.  He  learned  thereby  of  bat- 
tles in  which  his  company  had  taken  part,  and 
generally  came  out  with  a  loss.  Finally,  it  had 
been  disbanded,  as  the  time  of  their  enlistment 
had  expired. 

All  were  glad,  so  Ned  could  not  take  up  his 
command  again  as  captain,  as  he  intended  to  do, 
so  soon  as  he  was  able. 

It  was  difficult,  but  they  brought  him  to  see 
that  the  cause  he  had  fought,  and  almost  died 
for,  was  assuredly  a  lost  cause,  and  it  was  mad- 
ness to  sacrifice  further  to  a  failure. 

The  freedom  of  the  slaves  was  sure  to  take 
place.  The  proclamation  to  go  into  effect  the 
first  of  the  next  January  meant  that;  for  few  of 
those  bearing  arms  would  lay  them  down  volun- 
tarily. They  could  die  fighting  far  more  easily. 

What  could  the  South  do  without  the  negro 
to  work  his  hot  tobacco  and  cotton  fields?  To 
hire  them  seemed  preposterous,  for  their  pay 
would  be  high,  of  course,  and  reduce  the  fine 
profits. 

Gradually,  he  was  influenced  to  give  up  the 
South  to  her  fate,  since  they  could  not  restore 


IRENE   LISCOMB  33 

her  to  her  original  condition,  and  go  away  with 
his  family  to  live  in  a  foreign  land. 

Now  with  an  invalid's  indolence,  he  lay  and 
watched  the  steamers  ply  the  grand,  wide  and 
majestic  Hudson.  He  indistinctly  and  lazily  en- 
joyed the  presence  of  "Sis  and  Alice,"  as  he  al- 
ways Called  the  young  ladies.  The  Palisades 
sometimes  got  a  bit  monotonous,  but  a  nap  would 
make  welcome  again  the  sjght  of  them,  if  Sis 
and  Alice  were  only  near  by,  and  did  not  talk 
too  much ! 

Finally  he  was  taken  down  to  the  water,  and 
permitted  to  try  his  traveling  strength  in  a  steam- 
boat excursion  upon  the  river.  He  stood  the 
trip  very  well,  and  appeared  benefitted  by  it. 


34  IRENE   LISCOMB 


V. 

ON   THE  ATLANTIC. 

All  aboard!  All  aboard!  and  the  plank  had 
been  taken  up.  No  more  connection  with  the 
shore  now!  The  Liscomb  family  and  Alice 
Wood  were  bound  for  Europe.  Others  were  on 
the  same  vessel,  very  much  for  the  same  reason 
that  they  were.  It  was  impossible  for  them  to 
live  any  longer  in  America  while  the  war  lasted ; 
for  they  would  not  live  North. 

The  South  was  ruined.  The  negro  would  rule, 
or  help  to  rule.  The  hated  North  would  over- 
run their  beloved  land;  was  down  there  devas- 
tating it.  Alas!  "Farewell!  farewell!  farewell!" 

Many  a  heart  was  sobbing  while  chains  rat- 
tled, ropes  thumped  the  decks,  timbers  creaked 
and  the  monster  steamer  slowly  got  itself  into 
motion.  Then,  almost  turned  around,  as  if  to 
take  a  last  look  at  the  receding  shore.  The  crowd 
cheered  lustily  and  waved  handkerchiefs  from 
the  shore. 

The  most  of  the  passengers  responded.  A  few 
wept  violently,  especially  the  Southerners,  who 
already  felt  the  pangs  of  exile  and  utter  home- 
lessness.  Ned,  who  pale  as  if  dead,  suppressed 
his  emotion  as  he  saw  his  speechless,  undemon- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  35 

strative  parents  trying  to  hide  their  feelings  from 
him,  stiff  and  afraid  to  look  towards  him. 

Unable  to  control  himself  further,  Major  Lis- 
comb,  grim,  erect,  started  towards  his  stateroom. 
His  -wife  followed  him,  crushed  and  quite  over- 
come with  grief.  Once  alone,  the  elderly  pair 
gave  themeslves  up  to  violent,  hysterical  weep- 
ing for  a  long  time.  They  felt  very,  very  help- 
less. 

Ned  asked  Rene  and  Alice  to  have  him 
wheeled  into  his  room,  but  changed  the  order 
when  the  girls  themselves  took  charge  of  his 
chair,  saying,  "To  the  salon,  please." 

They  brought  cards,  as  if  to  have  a  game, 
moved  their  chairs  close  to  him.  Each  handled 
a  part  of  the  cards,  shuffling  and  shifting  them 
from  hand  to  hand.  No  one  could  play  yet.  The 
humiliating  feeling  of  banishment;  the  sorrow- 
ful look  on  the  countenances  of  the  old  people, 
as  they  bravely  mastered  their  evident  emotions 
was  too  vivid  yet! 

Ned  covered  his  face  with  his  handkerchief; 
then  the  girls  wiped  the  fast  flowing  tears  from 
their  swelling  eyes,  very  quietly,  however,  lest 
he  know  it.  Later  on  it  grew  very  quiet  on  ship- 
board. The  most  of  the  vast  number  of  passen- 
gers were  in  their  staterooms  getting  used  to 
the  narrow  quarters,  unpacking  a  few  necessary 
things.  A  few  were  making  a  dinner  toilet. 
Others  occupied  steamer  chairs  on  deck,  some 
already  in  a  recumbent  position,  a  little  distressed 
and  conscience  stricken,  at  remembrances  of  al- 
ways having  eaten  too  much!  Ned  said  "That's 
a  symptom." 


36  IRENE   LISCOMB 

A  small  number  promenaded  the  deck,  with 
a  look  of  inquiry  on  their  countenances.  They 
were  really  taking  an  invoice,  mentally,  of  the 
already  seasick.  More  people,  however,  appeared 
at  this  first  dinner,  just  at  nightfall,  than  was 
seen  at  any  other  during  the  voyage.  It  was 
already  evening  when  they  moved  out  of  the 
New  York  harbor  and  dinner  came  soon  after. 

Alice  Wood  did  not  make  her  appearance  at 
dinner.  As  she  related  it  afterwards  is  the  best 
way  to  tell  why  she  did  not  partake  of  that  first 
dinner.  She  said: 

"At  first,  I  felt  as  if  I  should  smother  if  I  did 
not  stay  out  on  deck.  My  collar  and  belt  got  too 
snug.  Then  my  head  seemed  curiously  to  in- 
crease in  size,  until  it  reached  wonderful  propor- 
tions! I  grew  feverish  and  very  sleepy.  If  I 
slept,  it  was  a  sort  of  half -conscious  swooning. 
I  was  soon  worn  out  with  the  violent  exercise 
nausea  forced  upon  me,  and  fantastic  dreams  of 
all  the  rich  and  remarkable  dishes  I  had  ever 
tasted  haunted  me,  and  haunted  me,  till  I  vowed 
I'd  never  taste  food  again." 

"Oh,  oh,  Alice!  please  stop!"  begged  Rene. 
But  the  vivid  description  amused  Ned  very 
much. 

All  the  rest  of  the  party  escaped  the  harrowing 
experience,  and  were  beginning  to  take  pleasure 
in  the  sea  voyage ;  the  gulls  that  still  pursued  the 
ship,  and  the  variety  of  people  making  up  the 
list  of  passengers  occupied  their  attention. 

Evening  brought  out  some  music  from  the 
musically  inclined.  Ned  said  "Rocked  in  the 
Cradle  of  the  Deep"  put  him  to  sleep  early.  The 


IRENE   LISCOMB  37 

salons  were  early  deserted  by  most  of  the  pas- 
sengers. Only  a  few  young  and  very  poetic 
lingered  up,  till  hints  from  scrub  people  appear- 
ing with  brushes  and  buckets  scattered  them 
rather  unpoetically. 

Peace  and  resignation  already  began  to  hover 
over  the  Liscomb  party. 

Meeting  on  deck  next  morning  to  take  their 
airing,  the  Liscomb  party  began  relating  their 
first  night's  experience  to  each  other.  Mrs.  Lis- 
comb was  the  first  to  tell  what  had  befallen  them. 

"Your  father  and  I  were  startled  at  about  ten 
o'clock  last  night  by  a  woman  dashing  into  our 
room  and  closing  the  portiere  closely  shut. 

Naturally,  we  took  her  for  some  demented 
creature.  She  listened  behind  the  curtains  till 
she  seemed  satisfied  that  some  one  in  search  of 
her  had  passed  by  the  room.  Then  stepping 
nearer  us,  said  to  me,  "Please  pardon  this  in- 
trusion, but  my  husband  threatened  to  shoot  me, 
and  as  he  turned  to  get  his  revolver  out  of  his 
valise,  I  ran  away  and  darted  in  here,  till  his 
anger  has  cooled.  Will  you  both  accompany  me 
to  our  stateroom?" 

Having  run  away  ourselves  from  too  much 
gunning  and  tragedies,  we  did  not  feel  like  rush- 
ing into  other  people's  scrapes  so  soon,  but  we 
went  out  with  her,  glad  to  get  her  away. 

Just  around  the  corner  in  the  corridor,  on  the 
way  to  their  room,  the  husband  appeared,  and  in 
a  gentlemanlike  and  even  affectionate  voice,  said 
to  the  woman, 

"Why,  Angelina,  dear,  I  was  wondering  what 


38  IRENE  LISCOMB 

had  become  of  you."  She  answered  equally 
calm,  without  a  blush  on  her  face, 

"I  got  frightened  and  ran  to  these  people  for 
protection,  while  you  were  out." 

Your  father  looked  the  man  in  the  face,  quite 
as  cool  as  he  was,  and  replied : 

"We  have  promised  her  our  protection  against 
anything  that  may  come  up,  let  me  assure  you, 
suh,"  and  put  his  hand  on  his  hip  pocket.  It 
was  very  laughable  to  see  these  three  so  po- 
litely and  so  deceitfully  fixing  up  the  matter  and 
bowing  good  night." 

They  all  enjoyed  the  tale,  and  the  way  she 
told  it.  Miss  Rene  had  a  somewhat  similar 
story  to  tell.  She  then  commenced  it. 

"I  was  entering  mine  and  Alice's  stateroom, 
about  nine  o'clock,  when  I  heard  a  voice  in  de- 
vout prayer.  She  seemed  to  appeal  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary. 

I  looked  directly  across  the  narrow  corridor, 
and  saw  a  fine  looking  woman  kneeling  beside 
her  berth,  engaged  in  her  devotions,  without 
having  drawn  shut  her  portiere,  or  shut  her 
door. 

"Oh,  bring  him  to  repentance,  I  implore!" 
were  the  words  that  I  heard.  I  closed  my  cur- 
tains. 

i  An  hour  later  her  husband,  I  suppose,  rapped 
and  rapped  on  her  now  closed  door.  No  answer 
came.  He  rattled  the  knob,  and  called,  "Agnes, 
Agnes,  dear !"  No  answer.  Next  thing  I  heard, 
he  came  with  a  steward  who  had  a  key  to  the 
door,  I  suppose,  for  he  opened  it.  I  could  tell 
that  different  ones  came  to  the  room,  and  that 


IRENE  LISCOMB  39 

something  had  gone  amiss,  though  all  was  man- 
aged very  quietly.  The  surgeon  told  us  this 
morning  that  she  had  taken  morphine,  but  find- 
ing it  out  so  soon,  they  had  saved  her  life. 

"T-hey  have  all  brought  their  misfortunes  and 
bad  tempers  with  them,  it  seems,"  said  Ned. 
"Why  the  dickens  couldn't  they  leave  them  at 
home,  I  wonder!" 

"Ah,  yes,  why  couldn't  they?"  replied  Rene. 
She  was  thinking  of  an  hour  of  sad  reminiscent 
reflection  that  had  monopolized  her  powers  this 
morning,  before  many  aboard  the  ship  were  stir- 
ring, awakened  as  she  had  been  by  the  coal  tum- 
bling through  the  funnels  into  the  furnace. 

The  days  of  the  crossing  sped  all  too  quickly. 
The  novelty  of  new  faces,  of  different  nationali- 
ties ;  the  dances,  the  concerts,  the  promenades  on 
deck,  even  jumping  the  rope  was  indulged  in; 
the  lazy  occupation  of  simply  nothing  to  do  but 
to  watch  the  boundless  waves  chasing  each  other 
forever  and  forever,  rolling  over  and  over  each 
other,  going  nowhere,  and  watching  the  far- 
away horizon. 

It  all  suited  the  worn-out  invalid  soldier, 
though  he  could  take  little  part  in  the  amuse- 
ments. He  had  Alice  with  him,  .he  had  not  been 
obliged  to  leave  her  in  his  unfortunate  America! 
He  dared  not  think  of  those  grand  young  men  of 
his  country,  all  his  acquaintances,  in  fact,  who 
had  fallen  in  the  lost  cause ! 

One  day  was  very  much  like  another  on  ship- 
board. One  morning  a  speck  far  away  forward 
on  the  horizon  increased  in  size,  little  by  little, 
until  it  turned  out  the  dimensions  of  an  approach- 


4O  IRENE   LISCOMB 

ing  ship.  There  was  a  lively  scampering  of  pas- 
sengers, rushing  away  to  write  a  word  home,  for 
the  ships  would  exchange  mail  and  news  as  they 
passed  each  other.  Approaching,  the  passengers 
waved  at  one  another  from  deck  to  deck. 

Some  of  the  messages  sent  home  by  them  were 
incohrent  lines,  dictated  hastily,  by  brains 
drunken  with  seasickness.  Others  were  cool, 
calm  information  that  their  writers  were  well 
and  happy,  and  were  really  upon  the  bosom  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Rene  wrote,  at  the  mother's  request,  a  few 
hasty  words  to  the  home  of  cousins  at  Mr.  Jonas 
Wilson's  plantation,  expressing  remembrance  of 
their  great  kindness  to  them  in  the  hours  of 
their  deepest  sorrow  and  loneliness,  and  of  their 
self-denial,  the  greatest  appreciation.  Even  Ned 
wrote  a  few  words  to  his  commander  at  Chicka- 
mauga. 

The  London  papers  were  eagerly  scanned  by 
the  Americans,  hoping  for  some  late  news  about 
the  war  at  home.  Very  little  important  tele- 
graphic news  was  found.  None  later  indeed 
than  the  last  they  received  just  before  sailing 
from  New  York  a  few  days  before.  There  was 
a  lull,  just  before  the  last  storm. 

One  day  they  were  warned  that  a  vessel  had 
just  encountered  icebergs,  so  they  sailed  out  of 
their  course,  quite  into  a  hotter  atmosphere,  to 
the  great  discomfort  of  everybody.  Some  of 
the  crew  and  firemen  being  rather  new  sailors, 
soon  fell,  overcome  by  the  torrid  heat. 

After  a  long  promenade  of  the  deck  one  after- 
noon, Alice  Wood  and  Captain  Ned  were  sit- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  41 

ting  on  the  shady  side  of  the  vessel,  idly  ob- 
serring  and  commenting  on  those  that  passed 
them.  They  had  many  times  noticed  in  the  last 
day  or  so,  two  men  with  closely  locked  arms, 
walking  the  deck  very  rapidly. 

At  first  they  thought  that  the  men  were  sim- 
ply taking  needed  exercise,  but  this  afternoon 
they  halted  near  by,  looking  very  attentively  at 
a  game  of  some  sort  going  on.  Then  Ned  ob- 
served that  one  of  the  men  was  a  lunatic,  and 
the  other  his  keeper. 

After  the  men  had  taken  up  their  vigorous 
tramp  again,  they  heard  comments  about  the 
droll  actions  of  the  peculiar  one.  Somebody  vol- 
unteered the  information  that  the  afflicted  one 
was  really  "quite  off  his  base" ;  that  he  was  pri- 
vate tutor  to  certain  young  princes  of  a  royal 
house  in  Europe,  who,  suffering  from  nervous 
prostration,  had  been  sent  for  an  ocean  voyage 
to  America,  but  growing  worse,  his  malady  in- 
creasing to  the  point  of  insanity,  he  had  been 
returned  to  his  own  country,  with  a  keeper  in 
charge  of  him.  This  was  a  strong,  resolute  man 
who  had  a  desperate  struggle  only  a  day  or  so 
before  to  keep  the  lunatic  from  climbing  over 
the  railing  into  the  ocean.  The  man  was  not  in 
the  least  vicious.  So  now  he  kept  close  hold  of 
him  and  promenaded  rapidly  to  give  him  no 
chance  to  do  any  violent  thing,  talking  all  the 
time.  He  had  a  guard  always  following,  to  aid 
in  case  there  should  occur  need  of  it,  in  master- 
ing the  poor  lunatic. 

Alice  shivered  a  little  in  fear,  as  she  heard 
that  there  was  a  possibility  of  an  outbreak,  and 


42  IRENE  LISCOMB 

kept  far  from  the  couple  whenever  she  saw  them 
on  deck,  or  in  the  dining  salon. 

"Oh,  we  saw  also  other  lunatics  nestled  about 
in  corners,  making  love  to  each  other !"  said  Ned. 
"They  did  not  have  keepers,  though  some  of 
them  ought  to  have  had,  I  think,  for  we  hap- 
pened upon  them  in  the  midst  of  a  hot  quarrel, 
to  judge  of  the  flushed  faces  and  flashing  eyes 
of  several  of  them." 

The  party  laughed  and  asked  Ned,  if  any  of 
these  lunatics  belonged  to  the  Liscomb  party. 
Ned  responded, 

"Not  so  far  as  I  know,  were  any  of  our  party 
so  engaged.  They  are  too  sensible." 

"Well,  your  mother  and  I  just  encountered 
some  of  those  loud  talking  and  laughing  Ameri- 
cans one  so  often  hears  about,  and  really,  I  was 
ashamed,  and  understand  better  now  the  criti- 
cism of  Europeans.  Even  the  foreign  sailors 
and  crew  laughed  among  themselves.  I  wanted 
very  much  to  give  them  a  hint  of  their  crude 
manners,  and  was  sorry  for  their  bringing  up,  I 
assure  you,"  related  Major  Liscomb. 

"Let  us  all  dine  together  to-night.  It  is  our 
last  dinner  aboard,"  and  the  elderly  couple  led 
the  way  to  the  dining  salon.  A  band  was  play- 
ing lively  airs,  and  all  things  seemed  to  be  let- 
ting loose  from  the  ordinary  tension  as  they 
approached  land. 

They  lingered  long  on  deck  that  night,  watch- 
ing the  whipping  of  the  phosphorescent  waters 
oft,  and  the  pale  autumn  moon  at  its  full  over- 
head, and  the  grouping  of  lovers  on  the  decks. 

After  midnight  the  steamer  seemed  to  skim 


IRENE   LISCOMB  43 

the  waters  of  the  ocean.  Her  machinery  had 
hardly  time  to  make  the  regular  revolutions,  one 
could  believe,  for  they  were  so  rapid  they  could 
not  be  counted.  Another  vessel  was  racing  this 
one  to  Liverpool  and  beat  her  into  port  five  min- 
utes, so  they  afterwards  learned. 

It  -  was  a  hair-raising  experience !  To  the 
sleepless  inclined  ones  it  was  a  terrible  experi- 
ence. To  the  imaginative,  they  would  surely  go 
to  smash  and  never  arrive  at  all!  They  seemed 
to  be  flying. 

The  ship  arrived  hot  and  panting,  but  safe,  and 
our  party  remained  on  board  the  hour  or  so  yet 
before  dawn,  getting  together  their  effects,  glad 
to  leave  the  ship  and  go  ashore,  through  the 
Customs  Office. 


44  IRENE   LISCOMB 


VI. 

A   WEDDING  AT  WESTMINSTER. 

The  Liscomb  party  hastened  to  get  and  to  read 
the  discouraging  War  News  from  America.  This 
put  Ned  again  into  a  restless  mood.  As  he 
gained  his  health,  he  grew  eager  to  return  and 
help  his  side  out.  It  was  yet  impossible,  as  he 
well  knew. 

"The  Confederate  Army  was  going  to  pieces. 
Richmond  was  surrounded  by  the  Northern 
Army.  The  beleaguered  city  must  surrender. 
The  end  was  at  hand."  The  tourists  silently 
wept  together  for  a  long  time.  A  cable  contra- 
dicted it,  but  there  was  still  bad  enough  news. 

They  did  their  sight-seeing  leisurely.  One 
morning  they  drove  out  to  see  the  statues  of 
Prince  Albert  and  Queen  Victoria,  and  the  Colos- 
sal Lions,  in  their  first  days  at  Liverpool. 

In  a  few  days  they  were  ready  for  a  tour  of 
Scotland.  At  Glasgow  they  saw  the  University, 
the  Necropolis  and  the  Cathedral.  These  two 
were  joined  together  by  the  "Bridge  of  Sighs." 
Kelvin  Grove  and  the  Botanical  Gardens  were 
visited  and  the  famous  lakes.  Then  a  trip 
through  the  Trossachs  was  delightful,  recalling 
Bruce,  Wallace,  Rob  Roy  and  the  McGregors 
and  the  Lady  of  the  Lake. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  45 

Stirling  Castle  and  the  battlefields  of  Ban- 
nockburn  were  in  sight.  A  few  delightful  days 
were  passed  in  the  Trossachs  Hotel,  to  rest  Cap- 
tain Ned.  Here  was  no  dullness,  for  a  stream  of 
tourists  was  passing  all  the  time,  and  these  were 
a  fine  study  themselves,  being  of  all  nations  and 
all  kinds  from  the  panorama  of  life,  with  their 
dissimilar  temperaments  and  individual  styles  of 
dress.  After  a  few  days'  rest  they  traveled  on  to 
Edinburgh. 

Visiting  Edinburgh  Castle.  They  went  into 
the  famous  corner  room  from  whose  window  the 
luckless  Mary  Stuart  caused  her  infant,  James, 
before  he  was  eight  days  old,  to  be  lowered  by 
a  cord  and  carried  across  the  city,  to  be  baptized 
a  Roman  Catholic. 

Then  an  oblong,  hollowed  out  stone,  high  up 
in  the  wall  at  the  entrance  of  her  apartments,  was 
pointed  out  by  the  guide  as  having  been  found 
by  some  workmen  to  contain  the  skeleton  of  an 
infant.  A  doublet,  perhaps  a  page's,  with  a  num- 
ber nine,  was  upon  it.  Nothing  else  was  known 
about  it. 

They  were  driven  over  to  Holywood  Castle 
and  Abbey,  or  the  little  that  was  left  of  them, 
and  saw  the  unreadable  chiseling  upon  the  worn- 
out  marbles.  The  Church  of  St.  Giles,  the  house 
of  John  Knox  and  the  monument  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott  were  visited.  The  University  and  many 
places  were  given  due  attention.  After  some 
days  here,  the  Liscombs  took  up  their  travels 
again. 

One  day  was  spent  at  Melrose.  At  Melrose 
Abbey  they  had  pointed  out  the  place  of  sepul- 


46  IRENE   LISCOMB 

ture  of  the  heart  of  Bruce,  probably  not  at  all 
true. 

They  did  not  linger  near  its  old  historic  graves 
long.  They  were  glad  to  leave  the  structure; 
that  is,  its  walls,  with  its  hideous  old  gargoyles. 

They  stopped  at  Abbotsford,  the  home  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  with  its  orderly  library  and  be- 
longings of  the  great  author.  The  place  was  sit- 
uated in  a  basin,  with  the  River  Tweed  flowing 
back  of  it.  The  caretaker  was  punctiliousness 
and  dignity  personified  and  pronounced  "Sir 
Walter"  with  great  grandeur. 

Ned  was  improving  rapidly.  He  admitted, 
however,  with  much  reluctance  to-day,  that  he 
was  much  fatigued  when  they  returned  from  this 
sight-seeing  tour.  A  couple  of  days  rest,  and 
they  continued  their  travels;  this  time  to  Strat- 
ford-on-Avon. 

Here  they  were  particularly  interested  at  the 
old  home  in  Henley  Street,  in  the  crude  pen- 
knife-name cut  on  his  old  school  desk  many  times 
and  in  the  broad  chimney,  and  the  well-kept  gar- 
dens of  the  bard.  More  so  than  in  the  new 
house  or  even  with  the  tomb  itself,  were  they 
interested,  it  seemed,  and  felt  more  his  person- 
ality. 

Not  far  from  this  old  house  of  Shakespeare's 
parents,  who  were  wool  dealers  in  his  childhood, 
was  the  deer  park,  from  which,  it  was  said,  he 
did  the  poaching  that  caused  his  flight  to  Lon- 
don and  his  anonymous  life  there.  Probably  a 
fateful  foundation  of  his  future  greatness;  who 
knows  ? 

"Yes,"  said  Ned,  "poaching  in  that  day  was 


IRENE   LISCOMB  47 

punished  by  death,  and  to  escape  hanging,  flight 
and  concealment  in  the  large  city  was  his  most 
convenient  recourse.  Shrewd  man,  as  well  as  in- 
tellectual, and  he  was  driven  by  Fate!" 

"Only  gossip,  just  gossip,  you  know,  Ned. 
Don't  repeat  that  again." 

"Gossip  or  fact,  I  don't  know,  but  it  is  a  poor 
wind  that  blows  nobody  some  good,"  said  Major 
Liscomb.  "You  see  it  was  one  of  those  fateful 
winds  that  gave  us  this  enjoyable  tour  of  Eu- 
rope, my  children." 

A  few  more  days  in  this  Athens  of  the  North 
where  the  day  seems  never  to  end,  for  the  nights 
are  so  very  light,  and  the  morning  seems  always 
at  hand  to  the  drowsy  one  who  has  slept  but  an 
hour  or  so;  they  stopped  over  at  Kenilworth,  to 
visit  the  best  preserved  ruins  of  that  region. 

Lounging  upon  the  beautiful  grass  of  its  for- 
est, Ned  and  Alice  Wood  awaited  the  rest  of  the 
party,  who  remained  in  the  ruins  to  see  the 
Oubliettes.  Ned  felt  unusually  well  to-day  and 
hopeful.  He  begged  his  fiancee  to  set  a  day  for 
their  wedding. 

"Why  cannot  it  take  place  in  Westminster  Ab- 
bey?" said  Alice  Wood. 

Ned  replied  quickly.  "A  fine  idea!  That  is 
just  the  place;  good — good!" 

"We  can  call  up  the  ghosts  of  all  that  glorious 
assembly,  princes,  poets  and  all  the  noble  com- 
pany to  witness  the  affair.  I  am  very  happy, 
Ned,"  and  indeed  the  girl  looked  it. 

He  drew  her  towards  him,  unmindful  of  who 
might  see  him  and  gave  anew  the  sacred  be- 
trothal kiss.  They  sat  there  in  silence,  too  full  of 


48  IRENE  LISCOMB 

emotion  to  talk;  too  happy  to  utter  a  word;  her 
dark  eyes  and  hair  against  his  blond  and  pale 
face. 

Rene  and  her  parents  came  to  them  in  their 
wonted  leisurely  manner. 

"Yes,  we  saw  the  oubliette.  It  was  a  secret 
dungeon  of  other  days.  One  entering  it  came 
forth  no  more,  sure  enough.  They  told  us  that 
there  were  sword  blades  in  the  walls  of  this  great 
round  well-like  structure,  now  filled  up;  and  a 
prisoner  thrown  down  there  was  never  seen 
again.  He  was  cut  to  pieces  against  he  reached 
the  bottom."  It  was  the  Major  who  described  it. 

The  party  returned  to  the  hotel.  Next  day 
they  started  to  London.  Arriving,  they  told  the 
rest  of  their  party  of  the  arrangement  to  be  mar- 
ried in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  make  the  honey- 
moon tour  through  grave  old  Holland. 

The  shopping  and  sight-seeing  were  all  to  be 
accomplished  first.  The  ladies  of  the  party  went 
to  a  dressmaker,  whose  address  had  been  fur- 
nished them  by  an  acquaintance  they  had  met 
at  Liverpool,  and  gave  orders  for  dresses.  All 
were  fitted  out  with  new  travelling  dresses ;  even 
the  bridal  gown  was  a  chic  tailor-made  dress  for 
travel;  all  to  be  made  very  soon. 

Major  and  Ned  went  to  see  a  tailor  whom  they 
had  heard  mentioned  by  Americans  they  had  met. 
The  gossipy  man  who  measured  them  said : 

"W'ich  'otel,  sir?  Yes,  certainly.  We  like  to 
work  for  the  Hamericans.  We  'ave  a  large  cus- 
tom among  them." 

They  were  settled  in  a  hotel  near  the  station 
they  had  come  by  into  London,  and  were  served 


IRENE  LISCOMB  49 

for  their  evening  dinner  just  what  they  had  ex- 
pected from  descriptions  furnished  by  travelers 
they  had  met  in  Scotland:  "mutton  and  goose- 
berry tart,"  and  mutton  that  they  grew  to  like, 
too,  for  the  chef  seemed  to  understand  how  to 
cook  it. 

They  had  not  eaten  mutton  in  their  home  cuis- 
ine, but  learned  to  like  it  in  Europe,  so  they  all 
declared.  The  Cockney  English  they  soon  learned 
to  understand,  though  at  first  they  did  not  grasp 
its  significance,  as  drivers  would  say  'otel  and 
Harridge  for  Harwich  and  hotel.  Some  of  them 
called  their  carriages  "the  machines." 

Though  three  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
happy  eve  of  Rene's  appointed  wedding  that 
summer  at  the  dear  old  plantation  house,  there 
yet  came  over  her  hours  of  inexpressible  grief 
and  depression,  when  the  miserable  ending  of  the 
affair  took  sole  possession  of  her  thoughts.  Ah, 
miserable,  wretched  hours! 

She  tried  hard  to  make  no  sign  of  her  suffer- 
ing, but  her  friends  knew  and  generously  re- 
frained from  mentioning  anything  connected 
with  that  time. 

Somehow,  since  coming  to  London,  she  had 
been  thinking  much  about  her  recreant  lover. 
Often  in  the  past  three  years  she  had  succeeded 
in  hating  him,  but  just  as  often  the  old  love  had 
returned  to  her  longing  soul,  and  taken  full  pos- 
session again  of  her  life. 

He  had  talked  to  her  of  London.  The  honey- 
moon was  to  have  been  spent  here.  Ah,  that  was 
why  she  was  so  occupied  now  with  the  old  re- 


5O  IRENE  LISCOMB 

grets !  Yes,  yes,  he  had  talked  so  much  of  Lon- 
don. 

How  different  this  visit  now  from  the  one  that 
was  to  have  been!  "Here  are  Alice  Wood  and 
Ned  flaunting  their  happiness  in  my  face,  and 
their  wedding,  too,  pending!" 

A  slight  touch  of  madness,  in  truth,  made  these 
hours  of  her  heart's  despair,  and  she  could  have 
turned  against  her  best  friends  while  it  lasted,  but 
reason,  which  had  always  been  a  strong  element 
in  her  character,  still  held  her  back.  Then  re- 
pentent,  she  would  murmur  tenderly  and  kindly : 

"But  poor,  dear,  good  brother  Ned!  How 
sweet  that  he  can  be  happy!  Poor,  sick  boy! 
how  mean  of  me  to  envy  you  and  Alice  your  joy 
of  the  coming  wedding;  but  it  brings  to  mind 
our  nuptials,  and  so  vividly  the  disappointment. 
Yes,  yes,  that  was  it.  Ned  nor  Alice  is  to  blame 
for  being  happy." 

She  remembered  that  night  on  the  veranda  at 
home,  when  the  mocking  bird  sang  so  sweetly, 
and  the  whippoorwill  vigorously  uttered  his 
notes,  while  she  was  herself  so  enraptured  and 
certain  of  his  love — sure  of  his  honor. 

Earnestly  and  honestly  she  battled  with  these 
dark  hours  of  despair.  How  glad  she  would 
have  been  to  know  that  he,  Captain  Budd  Stone, 
was  a  scamp,  and  only  treated  her  as  he  had  out 
of  inherent  meanness. 

"No,  no,  I've  made  no  mistake.  I  read  in  his 
glorious  dark  eyes  his  soulful  love.  I  heard  in 
his  wonderful  voice  the  depths  of  his  passion 
for  me;  the  earnest  imploring  of  a  true  nature. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  51 

It  rings  in  my  ears  forever."    Sobbing,  she  con- 
tinued thinking  more  and  more  kindly  of  him. 

"Some  unexplainable  thing  happened  to  him 
after  he  left  me  on  the  veranda  that  night.  Some 
day — somewhere,  I  shall  know  what  it  was." 

Utterly  exhausted  by  her  mental  excitement, 
she  was  unable  to  go  down  to  dinner  with  the 
family,  and  went  to  bed  to  keep  from  it.  The 
half  distracted  mind  kept  right  on  in  its  wretched 
reflections  after  the  others  had  gone  down,  taking 
on  another  of  its  moods,  however. 

"But  why  did  he  not  send  an  explanation.  He 
only  wrote:  'The  wedding  cannot  occur  to-day, 
nor  at  any  time.'  Lucid !"  she  said  mockingly. 

Like  the  others,  he  thought,  all  being  over, 
there  was  no  use  of  a  bridging  apology  to  bungle 
the  matter  still  further.  Well,  perhaps  there 
wasn't.  Then,  impatient  with  this  endless  and 
aimless  thinking,  she  cried  out  impatiently : 

"Oh,  let  it  go!  Let  it  go!"  and  dropped  off 
into  mental  unconsciousness  from  sheer  exhaus- 
tion; not  exactly  asleep,  yet  mercifully  somewhat 
akin  to  it  was  her  condition.  It  soon  seemed  to 
her  that  she  slept  and  dreamed,  for  she  heard 
the  greatest,  the  tenderest  tenor  voice,  far,  far 
away,  singing  their  old  song;  the  one  he  sang 
that  last  night  they  had  seen  each  other,  the  eve 
of  their  nuptials. 

Drowsiness  possessed  her,  and  she  believed  yet 
that  she  was  dreaming  for  some  minutes,  and 
tried  to  ignore  the  song  and  keep  clear  of  the 
misery  of  thinking  awhile.  Then,  suddenly 
awaking,  she  sprang  up,  saying,  excitedly  and 
nervously : 


52  IRENE   LISCOMB 

"O,  but  it  is  a  real  voice ;  a  real  song !" 

Every  nerve  was  alert.  She  listened.  It  was 
a  voice  in  the  room  below  her  own.  She  sprang 
towards  the  chimney  and  snatched  the  tin  cap 
from  the  hole  in  the  flue  and  listened  intently, 
murmuring  quite  aloud  this  time: 

"It  is  he,  it  is  he!"  The  song  ended  and  she 
heard  it  no  more. 

"How  strange!  I  am  certainly  at  myself?  It 
was  Captain  Budd  Stone's  voice,  greatly  im- 
proved, more  robust,  richer,  entrancing!  I  must 
find  out." 

She  rang  and  a  lad  answered  the  call.  She 
asked  him: 

"Who  has  the  chamber  immediately  under 
mine?" 

"It  is  one  of  them  op'ry  chaps,  I  suppose, 
mum ;  he  was  goin'  over  'is  piece,  I  reckon.  'E's 
gone  to  the  op'ry  'ouse  now.  'E'll  not  'sturb 
you  any  more." 

She  handed  him  a  coin,  and  asked  him  to  bring 
her  a  programme  of  the  opera.  It  seemed  that 
he  would  never  return  and  she  was  about  to  ring 
again  when  he  appeared  with  the  programme. 

Hastily  she  scanned  the  names  and  found  that 
of  the  "grand  tenor"  was  Sig.  Paulus  Mascori. 
In  disgust  she  said,  more  composed  than  before: 

"Well,  I  suppose  all  tenors  of  the  same  timber 
resemble  each  other,  as  Ned  would  sav ;  and  sure 
enough  this  showed  more  culture  and  was  more 
robust  than  the  one  I  had  in  mind "  she  re- 
flected, a  little  ashamed  of  what  may  have  been 
a  trick  of  her  fancy;  but  she  could  not  quite 


IRENE   LISCOMB  53 

abandon  the  belief  that  she  had  heard  the  voice 
of  her  former  loved  one. 

When  she  called  at  the  Office  of  Inquiry  in 
the  hotel,  she  found  that  the  company  was  from 
New  York.  Their  engagement  had  expired,  and 
they  had  gone  to  sing  elsewhere. 

Whether  it  was  Captain  Budd  Stone  or  not, 
was  not  quite  clear.  The  more  she  thought  about 
it,  the  more  it  came  out  clearer  in  her  mind  that 
it  was  indeed  he.  This  was  one  of  her  strong 
days,  and  she  argued : 

"He  left  me  voluntarily — I  shall  voluntarily 
leave  him  alone — yet  am  I  rather  certain  that 
Paulus  Mascori  and  Mr.  Stone  are  one  person." 

She  wrought  herself  into  an  angry  fit  of  jeal- 
ousy as  she  thought  how  women  became  infatu- 
ated with  all  great  tenors.  How  they  must  adore 
him — handsome  in  person  as  he  was !  Ah,  no 
wonder  she  adored  him;  was  entranced  with  his 
heaven  given  voice,  when  she  was  young.  She 
felt  old — very  old  now,  with  such  long,  sad  years 
of  sorrow! 

Their  lives  would  be  henceforth  more  certainly 
apart.  He,  the  great  tenor — she,  a  forgotten 
sweetheart!  She  would  try  to  harden  herself  to 
any  accidental  meeting  that  now  might  occur  in 
their  travels,  but  oh!  she  should  adore  the  great 
tenor  forever!" 

To  her  family  she  did  not  mention  the  grand 
tenor,  Sig.  Paulus  Mascori,  nor  did  she  intimate 
that  that  dinner  hour  had  brought  her  keenly 
stirring  experiences,  instead  of  the  rest  she  was 
supposed  to  be  enjoying. 

A  waiter  followed  them  when  dinner  was  fin- 


54  IRENE  LISCOMB 

ished  with  a  tray  of  delicate  food  for  Rene, 
which  she  tried  to  eat.  When  they  left  her  for 
a  few  minutes,  she  sprang  to  the  chimney  and 
threw  a  part  of  it  into  the  hole  and  put  the  cap 
over  it.  When  the  others  returned,  she  was  de- 
murely fumbling  the  food  and  thanked  them  as 
meekly  as  possible  for  the  kindness  of  the  good 
dinner,  thinking,  "What  a  rascal  I  am  getting  to 
be!" 

All  the  necessary  arrangements  were  com- 
pleted for  the  marriage  of  Ned  and  Alice.  So 
they  and  Annie  Miller,  who  had  just  joined  them, 
repaired  to  Westminster  Abbey  for  the  ceremony. 
Annie  Miller  had  come  over  to  Europe  to  study 
art,  with  others  of  her  acquaintance,  and  had 
"switched  off"  to  London  to  visit  with  the  Lis- 
combs  for  a  week,  so  it  happened  that  she  ar- 
rived just  in  time  to  be  a  witness  of  the  wedding. 
It  brought  to  her's  and  to  Rene's  minds  another 
one  that  was  to  have  been  one  time  in  the  South- 
land ;  the  dear  South. 

The  marriage  consummated,  the  bridal  couple 
went  on  to  Holland.  The  others  of  the  party  re- 
mained in  London  with  Annie  Miller,  to  await 
her  friends  to  join  her. 


IRENE  LISCOMB  55 


VII. 

A  HALF  DAY  OF   MENDING  AND  TALKING. 

So  soon  as  the  bridal  couple  was  indeed  gone 
and  the  luncheon  partaken,  the  Major  was  set- 
tled for  his  afternoon  smoke  and  nap,  which  gen- 
erally followed  it.  The  ladies  then  abandoned 
themselves  to  an  hour  of  undress,  lounging  in 
Rene's  room. 

There  was  scarcely  a  wink  of  sleep — really 
sound  sleep,  for  the  two  younger  of  the  three 
women,  but  as  the  elder  one  dropped  into  a  rest- 
ful snooze  at  once,  the  others  refrained  from 
conversation  till  she  should  wake  up. 

Finally  an  emphatic  inhalation  announced  the 
end  of  a  very  satisfactory  siesta  and  the  ban  of 
restraint  was  suddenly  removed. 

"You  are  laughing,  girls,  and  I  am  sure  it  is  be- 
cause I  snored.  I  slept  hard,  for  I  was  tired. 
Now,  own  up.  Didn't  I  snore  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Lis- 
comb,  a  bit  shame- faced. 

The  girls  laughed  still  more  heartily,  and  An- 
nie Miller  said  "I  don't  know.  I  think  we 
laughed  as  much  at  our  own  inability  to  sleep.  I 
looked  over  at  Rene  to  see  if  she  slept  and  found 
her  looking  at  me  with  the  same  inquiry  on  her 
face.  I  wanted  to  say  something,  and  was  sure 
she  was  of  the  same  intention,  but  a  sneaky,  quiet 


56  IRENE  LISCOMB 

little  "puff"  from  her  mother  warned  us  not  to 
break  into  such  comfort."  All  laughed  together 
now. 

Rene  read  aloud  from  a  newspaper  Major  Lis- 
comb  had  just  sent  to  the  room.  He  had  marked 
the  column  of  Telegraphic  News,  and  Rene  read : 

"The  soldiers  of  the  Confederacy  are  abandon- 
ing their  ranks  by  squads.  The  negroes  are  run- 
ning away  from  the  plantations  by  scores.  The 
slaveholders  are  bringing  them  into  the  cities  and 
hiring  them  there.  Pens  in  many  places  hold 
numbers  of  them,  and  they  are  locked  in  at  night. 
By  the  first  day  of  January,  when  the  proclama- 
tion of  freedom  is  to  go  into  effect  there  will  be 
few  negroes  in  slavery  to  free." 

They  all  looked  grim  and  sneered.  Rene  threw 
the  paper  away  from  her. 

"Oh,  I  am  so  chilly.  It  seems  to  me  I'm  cold 
to  the  marrow !"  said  Mrs.  Liscomb  one  morning, 
and  she  hugged  the  woollen  scarf  still  closer 
about  her. 

"Why,  I  lighted  two  kerosene  lamps ;  put  one 
on  one  side  of  my  toilet  stand,  and  one  on  the 
other  on  the  floor  and  then  I  could  not  bear  to 
make  my  toilet  as  I  ought  to  have  done,  I  was  so 
cold,"  responded  her  daughter,  who  had  just 
joined  her  parents  to  go  to  breakfast.  Major 
Liscomb  ventured : 

"We  are  on  the  eve  of  a  London  fog,  I  should 
say.  Let  us  get  away  before  it  is  quite  upon  us. 
I  should  like  to  be  settled  in  Italy  before  Christ- 
mas, particularly  for  Ned's  sake. ' 

In  came  Annie  Miller,  hugging  a  Chinese 
shawl  snug  about  her  head  and  neck,  and  rushed 


IRENE  LISCOMB  57 

up  to  the  open  fire,  her  hands  blue  with  cold. 
Laughing,  Rene  told  her  that, 

"Father  has  been  predicting  a  London  fog  for 
us  all  to  enjoy.  What  do  you  say  to  that  ?" 

"I  think  it  is  already  upon  us  if  darkness  and 
chilliness  are  any  sign.  I  must  rush  my  sight- 
seeing to-day,  or  I  shall  not  be  able  to  see  any- 
thing at  all  before  I  must  join  my  party." 

"Have  you  no  fire  in  your  room,  girls?"  asked 
Major  Liscomb  anxiously. 

"Fire?  Fire,  yes,  but  it  don't  make  a  hole  in 
the  dense  cold.  We  had  a  coal  fire." 

"We  have  not  half  seen  London  ourselves,  An- 
nie, but  we  hope  to  live  here  awhile  later  on,  and 
can  then  familiarize  ourselves  with  its  notable 
places.  To-day  we  will  'do'  the  Tower,  the  Bank 
of  England,  British,  and  the  Kensington  Muse- 
ums, and  Albert  Memorial.  Of  course  you  will 
be  again  in  London,  as  you  will  be  abroad  a  year 
or  so,"  said  Mrs.  Liscomb. 

"O,  certainly,  and  I  thank  you,  for  I  am  sure 
you  have  planned  a  full  enough  day  for  us.  I 
am  glad  to  have  such  guides  and  such  unex- 
pected companions  in  this  sight-seeing,"  replied 
Annie  Miller.  Rene  said,  reflecting : 

"I  wish  we  could  be  here  in  the  opera  season, 
but  to  hear  grand  opera,  one  has  to  be  booked 
some  time  before  for  the  evening  selected,  I've 
heard." 

"Yes,  I've  heard  that  also.  The  season  is 
short  and  so  crowded,  so  in  vogue  when  it  is  on, 
that  one  has  to  look  out  for  tickets  beforehand, 
but  I  shall  be  in  Leipsic,  and  you  know  the  Ger- 
mans are  so  musical,  I  shall  not  want  for  music. 


58  IRENE  LISCOMB 

It  will  be  a  bit  less  trouble  to  get  music  there/' 
said  Annie  Miller. 

They  were  all  very  tired  that  evening,  "And 
soon  after  their  mutton  and  tart,"  as  Rene  said, 
they  mounted  their  high  beds  and  slumbered. 

The  young  ladies  went  to  St.  Paul's  Cathedral 
on  Sunday  morning.  Rene  had  been  there  before. 
Altogether  new  to  her,  Annie  Miller  was  much 
impressed  by  the  intonation  of  the  service  as  par- 
ticularly emphasized  at  St.  Paul's.  She  was 
awed  by  the  grand  and  beautiful  structure,  its 
fine  sculptures  and  its  vast,  columned  interior. 

Major  and  Mrs.  Liscomb  went  to  the  solid, 
plain,  old  church  of  Dr.  Spurgeon.  They  re- 
called a  time  at  a  country  church  when  a  young 
clergyman  had  delivered  one  of  the  renowned 
preacher's  sermons  as  his  own.  Few  of  his  audi- 
ence knew,  but  having  a  book  of  the  sermons,  the 
Liscombs  knew,  and  had  read  them.  They  had 
to  dine  the  young  man  that  day,  and  considerately 
hid  the  book  before  inviting  him  into  the  parlor. 
Curiously  enough,  the  Major  was  thinking  of  this 
episode  as  he  seated  himself  in  the  old  London 
church,  and  felt  eager  to  hear  him  speak,  grateful 
to  chance  for  being  there. 

Soon  the  devout,  elderly,  thick-set  man  ap- 
peared, and  his  still,  rich,  low  voice  and  thor- 
oughly English  personality  thrilled  them  with 
reverence.  Some  such  awesome  feelings  moved 
another  in  a  pew  near  the  Major's  seat.  This 
other  one  was  unable  to  master  his  emotions  and 
from  time  to  time  he  uttered  aloud  such  phrases 
as 


IRENE   LISCOMB  59 

"Yes,  Lord !  What  a  privilege !  I  thank  Thee 
that  I  can  see  and  hear  him !" 

He  was  evidently  a  cranky,  over  sentimental, 
over  pious,  effusive  man  from  the  interior  of  the 
Middle  States  of  America. 

The  hours  of  Annie  Miller's  visit  to  Irene  Lis- 
comb-were  drawing-  to  a  close,  and  the  girls  had 
indulged  in  no  confidential  talks,  as  young  people 
usually  do,  especially  old  neighbors  in  the  South, 
as  these  had  been  only  a  short  time  before.  In- 
deed, Annie  Miller  was  to  have  taken  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  wedding  which  was  to  have  been, 
and  was  not,  at  the  plantation.  It  had  never  been 
mentioned  between  them. 

Fine  days  were  growing  rare  in  the  murky  air 
of  the  great  city.  This  was  one  particularly 
chilly  and  dark,  and  they  did  not  mind  a  half  day 
off,  as  they  announced  at  breakfast.  They  soon 
decided  to  pass  that  morning  in  mending  gloves 
and  stockings,  and  in  straightening  trunks  and 
drawers,  or,  as  Rene  appended,  "the  contents 
thereof." 

They  soon  set  themselves  at  the  task.  The 
elderly  pair  took  a  "two  wheeler"  that  the  maid 
had  just  whistled  for,  to  go  across  the  city  to  call 
upon  some  English  people  whom  they  had  met 
one  time  at  a  watering  place  in  New  York  State. 

After  directions  given  in  the  bureau  of  infor- 
mation, in  the  hotel,  and  a  search  among  their 
papers  for  the  cards  and  letters  from  those  peo- 
ple, they  started  off  to  find  them. 

Emerging  finally  from  a  hopelessly  intricate 
jumble  of  wagons,  carts,  drays,  omnibuses  and 


60  IRENE  LISCOMB 

carriages,  they  came  to  the  more  aristocratic  part 
of  London,  where  dwelt  their  former  friends. 

Cards  had  already  been  sent,  and  receiving  no 
attention,  the  Americans  had  concluded  to  see,  at 
least,  where  Sir  and  Lady  So  and  So  lived,  and 
how. 

They  found  the  pretty  old  town  house  of  their 
acquaintances;  but  the  caretaker  told  them  Sir 
Joseph  Markham  had  died  last  year,  and  Lady 
Markham  had  decided  to  remain  out  of  town 
through  the  winter,  perhaps  longer. 

In  the  business  streets,  near  a  prominent  dry 
goods  house,  they  dismissed  their  two  wheeler, 
and  went  to  finish  some  forgotten  shopping. 

That  finished,  they  loitered  in  different  depart- 
ments to  see  the  new  goods  received  and  shelved 
for  the  Winter's  trade.  Feeling  themselves  not 
particularly  welcome,  after  having  purchased  all 
they  intended,  they  did  not  remain  very  long  in 
the  establishment;  called  a  cab  and  returned  to 
the  hotel. 

Alice  and  Rene  had  overhauled  their  effects, 
and  thrown  into  piles  on  the  bed  all  the  things 
needing  a  button  or  a  stitch. 

Now  they  were  mending  and  talking,  the  talk- 
ing going  on  at  a  more  progressive  rate  than  the 
needle  work. 

"Well,  Rene,  I  wanted  to  tell  you  something 
ever  since  I  came,  but  I  felt  afraid,"  said  Annie 
Miller. 

"Afraid  of  what,  pray?" 

"Well,  I  felt  a  hesitancy,  knowing  you  to  be 
such  an  ardent  Southern  Rights  girl,"  responded 
Annie  Miller. 


IRENE  LISCOMB  61 

"What  has  that  to  do  with  it,  I  want  to  know?" 
and  Rene  fired  up  a  little. 

"O,  it  concerns  a  Yankee  Lieutenant — that's 
all." 

"That  will  make  no  difference  now.  I  am  not 
quite  so  intense  as  I  was  in  those  days,  Alice.  I 
feel  and  know  that  the  South  are  responsible  for 
this  war  equally  with  the  North.  I  still  feel  sure 
that  the  South  had  a  right  to  secede,  but  the  act 
of  secession  was  not  feasible.  Better  had  it  been 
to  suffer  the  loss  of  the  slaves  than  to  have  lost 
everything  and  everybody,  as  we  have,  in  this 
fool's  war.  And  what  have  we  gained?  Noth- 
ing but  a  whole  hundred  years  of  suffering  and 
poverty.  Our  men  cannot  in  that  time  attain  to 
the  high  position  they  occupied  in  the  land.  No, 
they  cannot!" 

"Bully  for  you !  as  my  little  mother  would  say 
if  she  had  heard  your  fine  speech.  Really,  Rene, 
that  is  the  way  I  see  it,  too,  but  the  young  people 
of  the  South  hate  the  North.  They  had  been 
taught  to  savagely  hate  them  during  the  war." 

"Yes,  I  know  it,  and  Ned  would,  too,  only 
father  keeps  him  in  check." 

"I  have  noticed  that  his  ardor  for  a  Confed- 
erate Government  has  become  modified.  I  be- 
lieve the  death  of  all  his  young  men  friends  and 
his  own  narrow  escape  has  been  the  agent  in  this 
change,"  ventured  Annie. 

"No,  no,  he  sees  the  failure  of  the  cause.  He 
knows  it  is  a  lost  cause,  and  the  great  loss,  the 
great  ruin  of  his  land,  since  they  can't  succeed, 
that  is  the  element  only  of  his  change.  Truly,  it 
is!  He  believes  we  had  a  right  to  secede;  that 


62  IRENE  LISCOMB 

he  does,  but,  like  me,  he  says  it  was  not  feasible. 
Pity  they  did  not  all  think  it  earlier." 

"Well,  I  was  going  to  tell  you,  I  have  worked 
myself  into  some  disrepute  by  having  a  Yankee 
beau,  or  sweetheart." 

"I  am  astonished,  Annie!  How  has  it  ever 
happened?  I  used  to  think  you  the  most  ardent 
Southern  Rights  girl.  You  were  simply  savage 
towards  the  Yanks  that  time  they  foraged  all 
your  calves  and  chickens,  you  know." 

"Yes,  wasn't  I  ?  I  remember  telling  you  not  to 
pronounce  their  thieving  'foraging.'  I  said, 
'Dang  them,  they  are  thieves  out  and  out.'  Don't 
you  remember?" 

"Yes,  but  hush,  hush.  Don't  repeat  it.  Don't 
ever  say  that  again!" 

"Well,  I  said  it.  I  know  I  said  just  exactly 
those  words,  and  I  wanted  to  shoot  them,  but 
mother  kept  the  revolver  away  from  me,"  de- 
clared Annie  Miller,  laughing. 

"I  must  tell  you  about  my  Yankee  boy,"  said 
Annie,  blushing. 

"For  his  sake  you  have  changed  opinion,  is  it?" 

"No,  Rene,  no,  I  have  not ;  but  I  see  the  great 
mistake  we've  made  in  having  the  war  at  all. 
Why,  Rene,  can't  you  see  that?  Anybody  can 
see  that." 

"I  see  it,  but  after  arranging  for  the  new  gov- 
ernment, leaving  the  old  one,  without  the  con- 
sent of  Congress,  the  Southern  pride  made  them 
willing  to  die  rather  than  back  down,  so  they 
had  to  fight  it  out.  Tell  me  about  the  Yank." 

"Yes,  it  was  stiff-necked  pride,  not  good  sense. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  63 

Well,  let  them  fight  it  out.  The  end  is  near  at 
hand,  they  know  it."  1 

"Oh,  yes,  we'll  not  fight  about  it.  Girls  don't 
know  about  those  things.  Yes,  after  you  all  left 
the  South,  the  foraging,  the  burning  and  horrors 
continued.  Father  went  to  headquarters  and 
asked  that  a  guard  be  furnished  him  till  these 
marauders  should  be  gone  away,  so  a  guard  un- 
der a  handsome  lieutenant  was  sent  to  our  plan- 
tation. Father  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Government."  j 

"I  suppose  that  is  why  we  escaped  what  you 
and  the  Stones  suffered.  They  ate  up  everything 
we  had  but  the  house,"  said  Annie,  shrugging  her 
shoulders  and  laughing,  "but  the  Commanding 
Lieutenant  was  a  nice — a  very  nice  fellow." 

"Hem!  Hem!"  said  Rene,  a  bit  sarcastic. 
"Nice  thieving  Yankee  boy !" 

"You  needn't  'hem,  hem'  about  it.  He  is  an 
educated,  principled  boy,  and  as  jolly  as  you 
please.  Mother  and  father  both  liked  him." 

"I  supposed  your  gratitude  changed  your  opin- 
ions about  the  Yankee  into  idealistic  exhaltation." 

"It  may  be !  Anyhow,  I  loved  him  right  much 
from  the  beginning  of  our  acquaintance.  We 
shall  be  married  so  soon  as  the  war  be  ended,  and 
we  all  know  the  end  is  in  sight.  Our  money  and 
our  men  are  exhausted.  That  is  why  our  sol- 
diers are  deserting  by  hundreds.  Some  thirteen 
of  these  deserters  were  retaken  by  a  Southern 
company  and  promptly  hanged  to  the  oaks  in  the 
young  grove  up  there  at  The  Forks  the  other  day. 
Pity  for  the  poor,  starving  fellows,  wasn't  it? 
They  did  do  it." 


64  IRENE   LISCOMB 

"Annie,  promise  me  you  will  not  set  too  much 
store  by  this  engagement.  You  know  how  such 
things  often  turn  out?"  said  Rene  sadly. 

"Yes,  yes,  I  know.  I  am  wedded  to  my  love  of 
art,  and  shall  try  to  keep  my  other  love  second 
to  that,  but  he  adores  me,  and  oh,  I  do  adore 
him,  I  assure  you !" 

"Say,  when  you  write  me  to  Leipsic,  address 
*  Annie  Miiller.'  That's  the  right  name  of  the 
family,  and  aunt's,  of  course." 


IRENE  LISCOMB  65 


VIII. 

A  TILT    BETWEEN    NORTH   AND   SOUTH. 

The  Liscomb  party  was  dining  for  the  last  time 
together  in  London  with  their  guest,  Annie  Mil- 
ler. There  were  several  new  faces  present  this 
evening,  and  they  were  discussing  the  war  in 
America.  Many  absurd  things  were  said  that 
showed  they  were  not  quite  posted  on  their  sub- 
ject. These  were  loud  people. 

Some  things  said  made  the  Southerner's  blood 
boil  with  indignation,  for  they  saw  that  these 
new  tourists  were  intent  on  trying  the  metal  of 
their  fellow  Americans,  by  these  little  meannesses 
of  covert  criticism. 

Rene  had  stood  it  as  long  as  she  could,  and 
sneering  with  fine  contempt,  as  she  looked  the 
offenders  well  over,  turned  and  said  to  Annie 
Miller,  but  in  tones  for  them, 

"Who  ever  heard  of  such  ignorance  from  a 
gang  of  globe  trotters?  One  can  tell  who  reads, 
and  who  does  not,  in  just  a  minute's  talk,  every 
time.  They  show  mighty  soon  that  they  don't 
know  what  they  are  talking  about." 

"Oh,  you  can  tell  that  they've  just  started  out 
from  the  North,  these  impudent  trippers,  who 
want  to  publish  their  opinions  broadcast." 

"Ce'tainly!   Ce'tainly,  you  all  can  see  that, 


66  IRENE   LISCOMB 

sholy !"  said  one  on  the  other  side,  in  ironic  imita- 
tion of  the  Southern  dialect,  but  no  more  notice 
was  taken  of  the  offending  "Nawthweste'ners" 
as  Annie  Miller  pronounced  them,  but  the  mut- 
ton, the  tart  and  the  custard  hardly  got  their 
share  of  patronage  Rene  thought,  as  a  sullen  air 
fell  over  all  the  guests  in  hearing  of  the  tilt,  so 
unexpectedly  enacted  before  them. 

With  rosy  cheeks  the  girls  returned  to  their 
little  parlor  near  Major  and  Mrs.  Liscomb's  bed- 
room. The  father  said  at  once  to  his  daughter : 

"Irene,  to  notice  those  people  was  extremely 
indelicate!  I  wish  you  would  learn  utter  indif- 
ference. Just  pay  no  attention,  as  if  you  had  no 
feeling,  no  care  for  anything  or  anybody  but  for 
yourself.  That  is  the  element  of  an  aristocratic 
bearing,  and  I  do  wish  you  could  learn  it — I  cer- 
tainly do  wish  it!" 

"Well,  father,  I  cannot.  I'm  not  built  that 
way,  you  see,  but  I  wish  I  might  learn  it.  Yes, 
yes,  I  will  try  to  acquire  this  'aristocratic  bear- 
ing.' "  She  leaned  over  his  shoulders  as  he  sat 
before  the  fire  and  affectionately  pressed  her  lips 
to  his  forehead. 

Annie  Miller  said,  "O  I  am  sorry  I  was  rude! 
Indeed  and  indeed  I  am,  but  those  people  were  so 
very  hateful!  How  could  I  help  it?"  and  her 
dark  gray  eyes  flashed  angrily. 

Mrs.  Liscomb  was  still  much  amused  as  she 
thought  about  the  occurrence,  saying  to  herself 
that  "a  bit  of  a  fight  was  fair  enough  for  girls 
sometimes,  especially  when  it  was  thrust  under 
their  noses,  they  couldn't  keep  out  of  it.  Annie 
got  her  German  up." 


IRENE  LISCOMB  67 

Changing  the  subject,  Annie  asked,  "Did  I  tell 
you  that  I  saw  Mammy  Nance  and  Eliza,  your 
cook,  in  New  York  City?  Well,  I  did.  I  told 
them  I  was  coming  over  to  see  you  in  London. 
They  begged  me  to  bring  you  all  home.  Nance 
said  to  me : 

'Marster  Ned,  he'd  a  ben  well  long  foah  now, 
uf  he  had  his  mammy  to  nuss  him,  sho  nuff. 
Ah's  'fraid  he'll  never  be  hoped,  sho!' 

Eliza  was  tricked  out  gay  as  possible,  but  de- 
clared roundly, 

'Ah  hates  N'York!  Ah  dess  hates  it.  Ah 
wush  Mis'  Riah  'ud  come  right  back  home  an' 
leave  dat  forrin  country  to  itse'f,  sose  we  kin  all 
lib  together  lak  we  done  libed  in  de  Souf.' 

"Isn't  that  a  good  message  from  the  home 
servants?"  asked  Mrs.  Liscomb.  Continuing,  she 
said: 

"It  will  be  a  long  time  before  we  are  all  assem- 
bled again  at  the  plantation,  in  the  new  house  we 
have  promised  ourselves.  By  that  time,  Eliza 
and  Mammy  Nance  may  become  so  fascinated 
with  freedom  that  they  will  never  come  South.  I 
fear  I  have  the  same  longing  as  they." 

Rene  replied  to  her  mother : 

"Mammy  Nance  will  never  desert  us — never! 
Eliza  was  sometimes  a  'sorry  nigger,'  but  in  gen- 
eral she  has  a  true  sort  of  element  in  her  charac- 
ter. Not  a  deceitful  nigger,  at  any  rate.  I  won- 
der what  they  think  of  the  'Nawth'  now?" 

"Well,  not  much,  as  I  told  you  Eliza  declared. 
Mammy  said  in  great  contempt,  'de  Nawth!  de 
Nawth!'  The  last  thing  they  both  said  was, 


68  IRENE   LISCOMB 

'You  tole  Mis'  Riah  she  dess  come  home!  Rene 
said  now.'  " 

Ned  saw  Pete  and  Sam  Thomson  working  at 
the  wharf  in  New  York.  They  knew  he  saw 
them,  though  he  made  no  sign,  and  looked 
"pow'ful  sneaky." 

"Have  you  all  got  a  glimpse  of  Royalty  since 
you  have  been  here?"  asked  Annie  Miller  of  her 
friends. 

"Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Liscomb.  "We  went  out 
of  London  about  ten  miles  to  Windsor,  on  a  Sun- 
day and  lined  up  where  she,  the  Queen,  and  fam- 
ily, would  pass  on  their  way  into  the  church. 
With  her  were  two  sons  and  one  daughter; 
strong,  fine  looking  young  people,  plainly  clad, 
but  with  a  fashionable,  distinguished  air  about 
them.  The  sight  of  the  good  and  venerable  Vic- 
toria and  her  children,  the  pages  and  footmen, 
the  line  of  curtsying  onlookers  was  all  very  agree- 
able; and  one  thought  of  her  motherly  character 
as  so  often  described." 

"As  the  party  came  nearer  us,  one  could  see 
that  torturous  eczema  the  Queen  has  on  her  face, 
making  it  red.  The  young  people  seemed  much 
like  other  young  people,  not  royal,  with  perhaps 
a  slightly  more  distinguished  air,  and  happy  self- 
poise." 

"Well,  the  Queen  is  of  German  descent,  you 
know.  So  am  I.  Why  can't  I  claim  relation- 
ship, I  want  to  know.  Victoria  is  short;  so  am 
I.  We  are  both  a  little  thick.  Her  motherly 
traits  are  the  same  as  any  good  German  woman 
possesses ;  only  position  and  education  have  made 
her  cleverer.  Therefore,  may  she  have  better 


IRENE  LISCOMB  69 

government  over  her  children,  I  reckon,  and 
wiser,  too,  no  doubt.  I've  always  admired  her." 

"The  Germans  don't  particularly  like  her,  how- 
ever, let  me  tell  you,  though  she  be  the  mother  of 
their  next  Empress,  and  the  grandmother  of  their 
next  Emperor;  still  more  remote.  The  Germans 
are  critical,  and  never  wanted  an  English  woman 
intermixed  in  their  royalty.  Especially  did  Prince 
Bismarck  oppose  the  marriage  of  Crown  Prince 
Frederic  to  this  English  Princess,  Victoria's 
eldest  daughter,"  said  Annie. 

"Frederic  was  a  handsome,  fine,  manly  young 
man,  and  has  no  child  so  distinguished.  The 
children  are  far  more  like  the  English  side  of 
their  house  than  like  the  German,"  said  the 
Major. 

Miss  Rene  suggested,  "Well,  the  patience  of 
the  Germans  has  found  out  most  all  the  great 
scientific  discoveries  of  late  years,  and  I  reckon 
the  fusion  of  English  blood  will  but  make  a 
cleverer  people  to  rule  them,  if  they  did  prefer 
the  pure  German." 

"It  is  wonderful  how  very  poetic,  romantic 
and  musical  the  German  people  are.  The  ordi- 
nary citizen  of  the  cities  is  often  able  to  follow 
a  score  of  an  opera  or  a  concert  to  its  end.  And 
they  are  the  proudest,  stiffest  people  one  meets; 
that  is,  the  upper  classes.  Their  poor  are  the 
most  respectable  poor  of  all  Europe,  I  have  often 
heard,  and  they  are  so  very  thrifty,"  said  Annie. 

Annie  Miller  found  she  could  yet  remain  an- 
other Sunday  in  London.  Through  the  influence 
of  one  of  the  patrons  of  the  Norman  tower,  pos- 


7O  IRENE  LISCOMB 

sibly  an  owner,  tickets  were  procured  for  all  four 
of  the  party  and  given  to  Major  Liscomb. 

This  old  Norman  tower  had  been  purchased 
by  a  body  of  lawyers  and  restored,  and  made  into 
a  select  church  for  this  very  select  few. 

At  the  right  of  the  chancel,  the  seats  rose  one 
above  another.  In  the  middle  of  the  church  lay 
several  bronze  statues  of  knights.  A  good 
Church  of  England  sermon  was  heard  by  the 
Americans,  who  felt  indeed  favored  in  being  able 
to  get  admittance  to  this  aristocratic  assembly  of 
old  and  new  knights. 

Annie  Miller  said  this  word  Tower  made  her 
think  of  London  Tower,  and  of  something  re- 
lated of  the  execution  block  within  its  enclos- 
ures, where  some  of  their  great  ones  had  met 
death.  One  of  them,  making  his  last  speech 
there,  had  turned,  and  thanked  the  headsman,  and 
asked  his  pardon;  then  laid  his  head  himself  on 
the  block,  and  held  it  there  to  have  it  chopped 
off.  I  reckon  it  is  a  very  dreadful  thing  to  be  a 
king,  but  it  was  a  mighty  convenient  way  to  get 
rid  of  a  royal  wife  sometimes,  it  seems.  I  saw  a 
frightful  painting  once  of  warning  to  some 
ruler,  and  under  it  the  words:  'Uneasy  lies  the 
head  that  wears  a  crown !'  " 

Among  the  letters  received  on  Monday  was 
one  from  the  bride  of  old  Westminster  Abbey. 
She  and  Ned  were  enjoying  the  sights  of  Hol- 
land. They  had  left  London  by  the  Great  East- 
ern Continental  Express,  and  crossed  the  North 
Sea  at  Rotterdam. 

There   they   had   visited   the   Cathedral,    Old 


IRENE   LISCOMB  71 

Church,  South  Church,  Groote  Kerke  and  the 
Museum  of  Paintings. 

They  were  now  at  The  Hague.  Ned  had  stood 
the  voyage  and  trip  very  well ;  would  rest  a  day, 
and  then  they  would  visit  the  Stadhuis,  Museum 
of  Paintings  and  ride  about  the  city  of  wind- 
mills and  water.  The  formal,  clean,  prim  Dutch- 
man was  a  fine  study  for  the  restless  Americans. 

''The  art  of  the  Netherlands  catches  me,"  wrote 
the  bride.  "I  love  its  serious  and  sentimental 
subjects  more  than  I  can  tell  you.  Annie  Miller 
must  visit  them  and  copy  so  soon  as  she  ever 
feels  capable.  We  were  glad  you  decided  to  re- 
main longer  in  London,  where  things  go  livelier 
than  here.  This  quiet  place  was,  however,  bet- 
ter for  Ned,  as  he  is  still  rather  nervous." 

"As  your  letter  proposed,  we  will  meet  you  at 
Antwerp.  Still,  I  am  sorry  you  could  not  see 
this  lovely,  prosy,  picturesque  country." 

Ned  and  Alice  afterwards  visited  Amster- 
dam, the  Capital  of  Holland.  They  went  to  the 
Palace,  where  the  royal  family  generally  pass  six 
weeks  of  the  year,  and  where  the  king  or  queen 
is  crowned.  They  visited  the  several  galleries  of 
art,  including  the  Rijks  Museum,  the  finest  pic- 
ture gallery  of  the  Netherlands. 

The  last  day  in  Amsterdam,  just  as  they  had 
returned  from  the  church  where  the  painting, 
"The  Descent  from  the  Cross,"  had  been  viewed, 
the  heavens  had  opened,  and  such  a  downpour  of 
rain  was  let  loose  as  they  had  not  seen  for 
months.  It  reminded  them  of  such  rains  in  their 
dear  old  South.  The  gathering  darkness  of  the 


72  IRENE   LISCOMB 

coming  storm  made  the  great  painting  doubly  sad 
there  in  the  church. 

Ned  had  been  rather  ailing  since,  for  the  bed- 
ding was  very  damp ;  and  it  seemed  to  him  that 
he  was  in  an  icy  chill  all  the  time:  Therefore, 
they  hastened  to  go  from  the  place,  fearing  he 
might  become  seriously  ill,  to  Antwerp. 

When  he  met  the  parents  a  day  or  so  later,  he 
was  gradually  restored,  and  in  a  short  time  was 
able  to  join  them  in  sight-seeing.  Here  the 
museum  is  rich  in  paintings  of  the  Flemish 
school,  and  contains  some  of  the  masterpieces  of 
Rubens. 

The  great  Gothic  Cathedral,  with  its  chimes  of 
ninety-nine  bells,  also  contains  paintings  by  the 
same  master.  In  front  of  the  Cathedral  stands 
the  large  grill-work  fountain  piece,  wrought  by 
Rubens.  It  is  told  that  this  sort  of  wrought  iron 
grill  work  was  his  trade ;  but  the  maiden  he  loved 
and  wanted  to  marry  told  him  she  would  wed 
only  an  artist,  so  he  set  himself  to  work  to  be- 
come a  great  painter,  in  order  to  win  the  woman 
of  his  heart's  fervent  desire.  To  this  circum- 
stance, the  world  owes  her  thanks  for  the  artist 
Rubens.  Another  triumph  for  Cupid ! 

"O,  Ned,  how  much  the  world  owes  to  love 
is  a  vast  and  inconceivable  reckoning.  Is  it  not  ?" 

"Yes,  I  should  say.  But  what  is  the  worst  of 
it  is,  that  so  much  evil,  sorrow,  misery  is  caused 
by  it.  Witness  my  poor  sister,  Rene.  I  fear  she'll 
never  be  quite  herself  again.  She  made  a  com- 
pact with  me  to  give  up  Budd  Stone  forever.  She 
cannot  do  it!  She  loves  him  yet." 

"My  dear,  good  husband,  we  were  only  prom- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  73 

ised  to  each  other  that  time  of  the  house  party, 
on  the  eve  of  the  day  of  her  wedding  which  was 
to  be,  and  was  not.  Don't  you  remember?"  and 
she  moved  closer  to  him. 

"Yes,  yes,  I  shall  never  forget  that  wretched 
next  day  either,  when  I  had  murder  in  my  heart. 
It  is  indeed  a  bad  wind  that  blows  no  good  to 
anybody,  as  father  always  says,  or  something  like 
that.  I  never  can  quote  anything  correctly." 

He  looked  fondly  into  the  tender,  dark  eyes  of 
his  happy  bride,  as  they  both  thought  so  sadly 
about  Rene. 

"My  dear  sweetheart,  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
something  which  I  intended  never  to  mention  to 
you,  because  it  might  put  you  into  a  passion,  and 
because  I  was  not  sure  of  what  I  suspected  my- 
self, and  I  feared  you  would  say,  as  you  used  to, 
to  Rene  and  me,  'I  think  you  are  a  little  off.'  " 

"You  will  promise  me  now  not  to  care  much 
about  what  I  tell  you,  in  any  unreasonable  de- 
gree, I  mean.  Well,  have  you  seen  a  ghost  of 
any  of  these  dead  and  titled  people  we  have 
heard,  read  and  seen  so  much  of  since  we  came 
to  the  Netherlands?"  f 

"No,  I  have  not  seen  one,  but  I  am  afraid  I 
have  heard  one,  and  one  we  both  have  desired  to 
forget,  too." 

"O,  are  you  superstitious?  I  also  have  heard 
some  sounds  here  in  the  hotel  that  were  incom- 
prehensible to  me.  I  could  not  sleep  one  night, 
and  you  were  sleeping  at  about  forty  knots  an 
hour,  so  I  did  not  wake  you  to  keep  me  company, 
but  I  asked  the  guard  in  the  corridor  what  the 
noise  might  be.  He  said  something  which,  of 


74  IRENE   LISCOMB 

course,  I  hardly  understood.  I  think,  however, 
he  said  it  was  the  servants  preparing  coffee  ber- 
ries to  make  the  morning's  coffee,  with  some  sort 
of  a  machine.  O,  I  don't  really  know  what  he 
said.  American  English  is  not  fluently  spoken 
anywhere  in  Europe,  I'm  told,  and  he  tried  the 
Continental." 

Alice  felt  a  little  impatient. 

"Now,  you  are  making  fun  of  me,  Ned.  I  will 
only  tell  you  that  my  ghost  was  not  preparing 
the  coffee  berry  for  next  morning's  breakfast. 
That  is  all." 

"No,  that  is  not  all,  and  I  want  the  whole  con- 
fession," and  Ned  put  his  arm  about  his  wife, 
saying : 

"Tell  me  this  thing  you  meant  not  to  tell  me. 
There  can  be  no  secrets  between  us,  nor  mys- 
teries, since  we  stood  up  together  in  the  pres- 
ence of  that  noble  congregation  of  dead  and  the 
noble  live  Americans  there,  in  Westminster. 
Now,  out  with  it." 

"It  is  really  not  worth  so  much  talk.  Do  you 
remember  that  evening  in  London  when  Rene  was 
too  ill  to  go  down  to  dinner,  and  you  and  your 
father  went  ahead,  and  stopped  at  the  office  till 
we  others  came  on  ?" 

"Yes,  I  believe  I  recall  the  time." 

"Well,  as  we  leisurely  passed  along  on  the  floor 
just  beneath  our  rooms,  I  heard  an  extraordi- 
narily fine  tenor  voice  humming  and  practising. 
It  seemed  to  me,  the  song  Budd  Stone  sang  that 
last  night  we  ever  saw  him,  and  certainly  it  was 
his  voice !  I  almost  started  out  of  my  skin.  Now, 
wasn't  that  strange?" 


IRENE   LISCOMB  75 

"A  little  strange  perhaps,  but  all  fine  tenors  of 
the  same  timber  resemble  each  other,  sometimes, 
very  closely." 

"I  thought  you  would  say  that,  Ned,  and  I 
hope  it  was  not  Budd  Stone,  but  I  have  a  strange 
impression  that  it  was  really  his  voice,  more  ma- 
tured, much  improved.  It  would  be  a  pity  if 
Rene  heard  it." 

"I  am  glad  I  had  no  inkling  of  it  in  London, 
but  Sis  and  I  are  under  a  compact,  you  know." 


76  IRENE  LISCOMB 


IX. 

SIGHT-SEEING — THE   SKELETON. 

From  Antwerp  our  tourists  went  to  Brussels 
for  one  day,  only  glancing  at  the  paintings,  the 
palaces,  City  Hall,  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Gudule 
and  St.  Michael,  Column  of  Congress  and  Mar- 
tyr's Monument. 

The  next  day  they  rode  out  to  visit  the  Battle- 
field of  Waterloo.  The  weather  being  cold  and 
wet,  they  did  not  mount  the  long  tier  of  steps 
leading  to  the  monument,  but  took  away  all  the 
literature  concerning  the  battle  that  was  obtain- 
able at  the  foot  of  the  immense  mound,  artificially 
made,  to  study  it  in  the  warmth  of  their  rooms, 
and  at  leisure. 

The  Liscomb  party  spent  Sunday  in  Cologne. 
In  the  Cathedral  they  saw  the  renowned  stained 
glass  windows.  In  a  crypt  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Gereon  they  looked  upon  the  sacred  relics.  They 
also  saw  those  in  the  Church,  of  the  Eleven  Thou- 
sand Virgins.  They  heard  the  wonderful  chimes, 
whose  bells  were  made  from  cannon  captured 
from  enemies  in  battle. 

"And  truly  they  are  the  most  musical  chimes 
on  earth!"  so  all  the  party  declared.  Whether 
it  is  altogether  owing  to  the  metal  of  which  they 
are  made,  or  partly  from  the  peculiar  atmsophere, 


IRENE  LISCOMB  77 

they  are  truly  most  remarkably  musical  and  im- 
pressive chimes. 

Commenting  on  what  they  saw  at  Cologne, 
Rene  said : 

"Really,  does  any  one  believe  that  eleven  thou- 
sand virgins  were  slain  just  outside  this  city  at 
one  time,  many  of  them  of  high  rank,  as  says 
the  story?" 

"Perhaps  that  is  as  believable  as  that  the  finger 
bone,  we  were  told  in  the  crypt,  belonged  once  to 
our  Lord,  and  that  those  nails  came  out  of  his 
cross.  You  remember,  we  were  shown  some  of 
the  virgins'  skulls,  too,"  said  the  Major.  "One 
must  not  question  too  closely,  and  we  must  not 
criticize,  nor  doubt.  The  very  devout  feel  an  ex- 
altation of  spirit  in  the  presence  of  these  relics 
I  noticed,  which  is  perhaps  good  for  them,  at 
least,  and  they  get  a  great  deal  of  money  from 
tourists  for  the  exhibition  to  use  in  church  work, 
and  that  is  certainly  needful  in  all  communities, 
and  at  all  times,"  said  Mrs.  Liscomb. 

"These  maidens  were  travelling  to  Mecca,  were 
they  not?"  asked  Ned's  wife. 

"I  think  so.  I  cannot  remember  how  it  was, 
I'm  sure,"  said  the  Major ;  "a  myth,  I  believe." 

It  happened  that  the  weather  was  fine  for  the' 
time  of  year  when  the  party  took  passage  on  a 
large  steamer  for  a  voyage  on  the  Rhine.  They 
passed  old  feudal  castles,  crumbling  towers, 
quaint  old  towns,  and  vine-clad  slopes,  many  of 
them  celebrated  in  history,  legend,  song  and 
painter's  art.  As  they  passed  a  Roman  Tower, 
Ned's  wife  related  a  story  told  as  a  fact,  of  an 


78  IRENE   LISCOMB 

English  girl  artist,  who  stopped  at  Bonn  to  paint 
the  views  of  river  and  surrounding  country  there. 

"She  was  known  to  none  in  the  house  she 
boarded  in,  at  all.  One  morning  she  took  her 
material  and  went  out,  apparently  to  sketch,  and 
never  returned.  If  they  thought  of  her  at  the 
boarding  and  lodging  house,  it  was  without  much 
interest,  and  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  say- 
ing: 

"Ach,  die  Engldnderin  sind  droll!  und  so  viele 
Studenten  sind  hier." 

Days,  weeks  and  months  went  by.  Nothing 
was  heard  of  her.  Somebody  said  she  was  seen 
near  a  steamer  landing.  That  seemed  to  indicate 
her  departure,  for  other  scenes  to  copy,  and  no 
investigation  nor  search  was  made. 

One  time,  some  years  afterwards,  an  elderly 
Englishman  and  wife  came  to  Bonn,  made  in- 
quiries about  the  English  girl  artist,  who  had 
come  here  some  years  before  to  paint,  and  had 
very  soon  disappeared. 

It  happened  that  one  of  those  old  boarders  in 
the  same  house  where  the  girl  had  taken  board 
and  lodging  heard  those  inquiries,  found  she  had 
never  returned  to  her  friends  anywhere.  It 
struck  him  for  the  first  time  that  she  had  perhaps 
met  death  by  some  accident  near  Bonn  and  said 
so.  He  became  interested  now.  He  joined  the 
elderly  English  couple  in  a  tour  about  the  coun- 
try around  Bonn,  not  hoping  to  find  trace  of  her, 
but  to  discover  any  probable  way  that  she  might 
have  met  accidental  death  there,  or  near  Coblenz. 
'  So  soon  as  the  English  party  came  in  sight  of 
this  old  Roman  Tower  they  hurried  along  to  ex- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  79 

amine  it.  They  could  not  see  inside  at  all,  and 
the  door  seemed  to  have  become  a  part  of  the 
solid  wall.  The  German  gentleman  with  them 
said: 

"That  door  has  not  been  opened  in  a  hundred 
years,  T'm  sure ;  but  the  persistent  Englishman 
procured  implements  the  next  morning,  and  they 
came  out  with  them  and  a  ladder  to  use,  in  case 
they  could  not  open  the  door.  They  had  not 
asked  permission,  for  it  could  hardly  have  been 
obtained,  and  they  did  not  want  to  find  out  if  it 
might,  but  went  to  work. 

They  tried  the  door — worked  hard.  The  lad- 
der would  not  reach  the  top  of  the  roofless  tower. 
Again  they  worked  at  the  door  till  it  was  partly 
opened.  The  Englishman  went  in  first,  and  the 
others  were  sure  from  his  exclamations  that  he 
had  made  the  discovery  they  sought,  and  followed 
him  into  the  half-filled  up  tower. 

The  skeleton  of  a  person  sat  against  the  wall, 
half  supported  by  the  dust,  sand  and  leaves  car- 
ried into  the  top  of  the  tower  by  storm  and  wind 
for  the  many  years  that  it  had  been  there.  Birds 
had  built  nests  about  it. 

Digging  around  it,  they  found  evidence  that  it 
was  the  skeleton  of  an  artist.  They  all  believed 
it  that  of  the  English  girl,  who  had  disappeared 
so  many  years  before. 

Commenting,  they  wondered  that  nobody  had 
found  it  long  ago.  In  fact,  no  one  had  ever 
hunted  for  the  lonely,  ambitious  girl,  who  had 
few  friends.  This  few  had  believed  that  she  had 
purposely  deserted  them,  until  several  years  had 


8o  IRENE   LISCOMB 

passed,  and  they  knew  it  was  too  late  to  find  out 
anything  about  her." 

By  the  time  the  story  was  finished,  the  great 
round  brick  Roman  Tower  was  out  of  sight.  Still 
thinking  about  it,  Rene  said : 

"Well,  I  hope  the  sad  story  is  not  true.  Why 
could  she  never  get  out?" 

"O,  but  it  is  true !  It  was  told  me  by  a  teacher 
of  music  in  our  boarding  school  up  "Nawth."  She 
was  born  at  Coblenz ;  was  at  school  in  Bonn.  She 
told  it  for  a  fact.  I  think  the  skeleton  was  dis- 
covered since  she  came  on  the  scene,"  persisted 
Ned's  wife. 

Many  interesting  and  historic  places  came  into 
view  and  soon  gave  place  to  others,  as  they  jour- 
neyed over  the  waters  of  the  Rhine ;  the  old  toll 
house  of  the  Robber  Barons  among  them. 

An  officer  of  the  vessel  presented  Major  Lis- 
comb  a  beautifully  gotten  up,  elaborated  and 
illustrated  copy  of  the  poem,  "The  Lurlef." 
Aside,  Ned  said :  "We  will  postpone  the  reading 
until  we  have  ample  time  to  dig  it  out,"  though 
they  pretended  to  read  it  while  the  giver  was 
present,  and  greatly  admired  the  engravings. 
Ned  had  studied  German  for  a  short  time;  the 
last  year  he  had  spent  at  college,  at  the  time  the 
war  between  the  North  and  South  put  an  end  to 
his  studies  so  suddenly. 

They  wished  also  to  lose  no  view  of  the  shore 
while  the  grand  tableau  was  passing  before  them. 

At  last  they  passed  the  Lurlei  rock,  and  looked 
upon  its  battling,  gurgling,  uprushing  waters, 
and  thought  of  the  fabled  siren  who  lured  to  de- 
struction all  who  listened  to  her  song.  Cora- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  81 

menting  anew  on  the  wonders  of  the  German 
fancy  for  tales  of  dragons,  fairies,  wood  nymphs 
and  goblins,  they  ended  too  quickly  the  day  on  the 
Rhine. 

At  Biebrich  they  took  carriages  for  Wies- 
baden, a  health  resort.  The  waters  of  the  hot 
springs  reminded  the  Major  of  those  of  the  hot 
.springs  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  of  Arkansas,  in 
America.  They  took  fine  baths,  and  enjoyed  the 
Cur-Saal,  though  the  throng  of  the  busiest  sea- 
son was  over.  The  weather  was  too  cold  and 
Major  Liscomb  was  too  feeble  to  care  for  car- 
riage excursions. 

As  Ned  grew  stronger,  his  father  seemed  to  be 
falling  into  that  last  stage  of  aged  manhood  and 
indifference,  common  to  mankind  in  the  "sere 
and  yellow  leaf"  of  life.  He  was  impatient  to 
know  that  the  war  was  over,  for  he  began  to 
yearn  for  a  quiet  home  in  his  beloved  South 
again.  It  seemed  to  him  that  that  old  plantation 
could  yield  him  more  pleasure  and  comfort  than 
this  everlasting  touring  among  strange  peoples  of 
strange  languages  could  furnish. 

He  tried  to  conceal  this,  for  him,  the  first  sign 
of  old  age,  from  the  other  members  of  his  family  j 
always  wishing  that  they  might  enjoy  life  in  the 
way  most  pleasing  and  instructive  to  them. 

Eagerly  he  scanned  the  newspapers  and  read 
the  letters  from  home  awaiting  him  in  the  hotel. 
They  all  told  him  of  the  humiliating  end  of  the 
great  struggle,  though  all  of  them  said  nothing 
like  it  in  words.  The  military  movements  alone 
revealed  it  to  him.  He  was  reading  between  the 
lines. 


82  IRENE   LISCOMB 

Christmas  had  passed  without  any  particular 
observation  of  the  season  by  them.  They  knew 
of  the  midnight  mass  in  the  Catholic  churches, 
and  on  Christmas  morning  heard  the  serenade  in 
the  court  of  the  hotel,  by  some  cloaked  lads  un- 
der a  tutor  from  some  orphan  society.  Nearly 
every  window  opening  on  the  court  had  been 
opened  to  let  in  the  music  and  to  let  out  the  tiny 
packages  of  money  that  the  lodgers  of  the  house 
wished  to  donate  to  the  orphanage.  These  solici- 
tors of  alms  and  the  solicitors  for  church  contri- 
butions being  permitted  to  ply  their  business  only 
during  the  holidays ;  beggary  not  being  tolerated, 
unless  in  some  happily  disguised  form,  as  they 
noticed  a  few  days  later  in  Berlin,  in  a  vender  of 
flowers.  A  sort  of  child's  wagon  was  hauled  by 
a  young  woman  through  the  streets  of  a  limited 
quarter,  in  which  sat  an  elderly,  helpless  pauper 
woman.  She  was  selling  flowers,  bouquets,  nose- 
gays and  boutonnieres.  When  a  customer  ap- 
peared, the  daughter  stopped  the  wagon.  The 
customers  often  paid  for  flowers,  then  laid  them 
back  into  the  vender's  lap.  These  flowers  were 
rather  regularly  sent  to  the  old  woman  by  rich 
people  who  had  used  them  to  ornament  their  own 
homes  for  a  day  or  an  evening,  and  when  re- 
placed by  fresh  ones,  sent  off  to  her  the  older 
ones,  which  she  now  sold  on  the  street. 

These  first  days  in  Berlin  they  spent  in  sight- 
seeing, for  the  weather  was  fine  and  brighter  than 
one  generally  meets  with  in  the  rather  cloudy  and 
dark  city  in  winter.  Taking  a  carriage,  they 
were  driven  through  the  beautiful  avenue  Unter- 
den  Linden.  Within  three-quarters  of  a  mile  they 


IRENE  LISCOMB  83 

saw  the  Brandenburg  Gate,  built  in  imitation  of 
the  Propylaeum  at  Athens ;  the  Guard  House,  the 
three  royal  palaces,  the  Dom,  the  oldest  church 
in  the  city,  where  they  afterwards  saw  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Prussia,  the  University,  the  Royal 
Opera  "House,  the  Bridge,  the  Arsenal  and  the 
Academy  of  Art,  besides  the  many  statues.  The 
largest  of  the  palaces  is  where  the  ruling  family 
always  lives,  and  is  colossal  in  size.  All  of  them 
are  gray  in  color. 

Driving  back,  they  went  from  the  Branden- 
burg Gate  right  on  into  the  Tier  Garten,  the 
largest  and  most  natural  woodland  of  any  park 
they  had  seen.  An  Opera  House  for  summer 
amusements  and  some  old,  low  palaces  were  here 
seen,  with  the  usual  park  bridges,  lakes  and  rus- 
tic seats. 

The  Car  of  Victory  above  the  Gate  had  been 
carried  away  to  France  once  by  victors  of  bat- 
tles, but  after  Waterloo  had  been  returned  to 
Prussia.  Since  them  the  eagle  and  the  iron  cross 
had  been  bestowed  upon  the  figure  of  the  god- 
dess in  the  Car  by  the  patriotic  city. 

The  Americans  were  fortunate  enough  to  hear 
the  music  of  the  two  principal  music  halls.  Once 
it  was  a  Beethoven  evening,  being  the  birthday  of 
the  composer,  and  the  Germans  celebrate  very 
faithfully  the  birthdays  of  their  great  people. 
Even  the  day  of  their  deaths  is  noticed  in  families 
of  any  persons  of  royal  blood  by  visits  to  their 
tombs  and  the  placing  of  wreaths  there. 

They  heard  the  opera  of  Die  Meister  Singer, 
also  in  the  language  and  manner  intended  by  the 
author.  Finding  this  language  rich  and  beauti- 


84  IRENE  LISCOMB 

ful  in  song,  far  beyond  any  praises  they  had 
heard  of  it. 

The  Liscomb  party  went  fifteen  miles  out  from 
Berlin  to  Charlottenburg  one  day.  The  surround- 
ing park  is  the  pleasure  resort  of  rich  and  poor 
in  summer.  In  the  grounds  is  a  small  Doric 
Temple  in  which  is  a  beautiful  monument  to 
Queen  Louise  of  Prussia,  and  said  to  be  the  mas- 
terpiece of  the  great  sculptor  Rauch.  One  can 
well  believe  it. 

An  immense  statue  is  in  the  Tier  Garten,  nearer 
Berlin.  On  their  idol's  birthday  more  than  half 
of  the  city  visits  the  place,  for  the  decorations  are 
magnificent  all  about  the  statue.  The  Germans 
love  flowers  and  know  how  to  make  grand  and 
impressive  effects  with  them. 

Potsdam,  sometimes  called  the  Versailles  of 
Prussia,  they  visited  one  cold,  raw  day,  and  did 
most  of  their  sight-seeing  from  the  carriage, 
though  they  did  leave  it  to  go  into  the  old  Palace, 
built  by  Frederic  the  First,  a  palace  without  any 
comforts. 

They  also  went  into  some  of  the  apartments  of 
the  Kaiser's  Summer  Palace,  such  being  permit- 
ted when  the  family  is  away.  This  was  of  course 
more  modern  and  comfortable,  built  after  some 
victory  in  war. 

One  morning  they  got  a  glimpse  of  the  Old 
Kaiser  and  his  son,  Frederic.  Noticing  a  little 
sensation  on  the  street,  they  looked  out  and  saw 
the  white  feather  of,  perhaps,  the  royal  footman 
sailing  along,  pages  and  royalty  disappearing 
quickly  behind  superb  horses. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  85 


X. 

THE   PROCLAMATION   OF   FREEDOM. 

The  Americans  were  anxious  to  know  what 
the  Proclamation  of  Freedom  had  effected  for 
the  slave  or  for  the  South.  According  to  all 
they  could  find  out  about  it,  there  was  little  dif- 
ference to  the  slave  or  to  the  South.  In  the  first 
place,  all  of  the  slaves  did  not  find  out  they 
were  free  for  a  long  time. 

In  the  cities  and  towns  they  knew,  but  made 
no  fuss  about  it.  They  got  a  little  money  in 
their  hands  to  buy  their  own  clothing  and  food, 
and  that  was  all  they  thought  about  it  yet.  After 
a  little  they  were  aware  that  freedom  meant  a 
lot  more  for  them;  made  no  demonstration  still. 

They  knew  not  exactly  what  to  do  with  free- 
dom, and  had  heard  that  the  Yankee  only  wanted 
them  for  themselves,  and  would  treat  them 
worse  than  they  had  ever  been  treated  in  the  » 
South,  besides  freezing  them  in  the  Northern 
climate,  so  many  remained  in  the  land  they  al- 
ready knew. 

A  few  followed  the  invading  army,  and 
risked  their  luck  in  obtaining  transportation 
North — sometimes  getting  stranded  along  the 
route.  Being  used  to  hardships,  they  generally 
got  out  of  bad  situations  creditably.  A  few  be- 


86  IRENE  LISCOMB 

licved  the  Yankee  would  come,  and  get  them  in 
due  time;  the  negro's  long  tried  and  stolid  pa- 
tience answering  him  now  for  the  shrewd  intelli- 
gence of  the  coming  years.  This  sort  had  re- 
mained South,  too. 

Many  were  really  attached  to  the  old  master, 
who  had  given  them  their  little  cabins,  their  pigs 
and  their  gardens.  They  remembered  how  the 
mistress  always  came  with  her  medicine  chest  to 
attend  them  when  ill  and  these  argued  now : 

"Marster  is  done  gone.  Dey  has  killed  him 
a  fightin'  fuh  his  prope'ty.  Ole  Mis'  can't  raise 
dem  chillun'  by  huhsef ;  we  dess  hope  huh.  She 
can't  spah  we-uns.  We  all  hope  huh,  an'  stay 
longer  on  dis  yer  plantation." 

So  these  remained,  all  the  more  faithful  for 
the  sweet  breezes  of  freedom  fanning  them! 

A  lot  has  been  preached  and  written  about 
"this  creature  of  the  jungle,"  but  the  brute  of 
civilization  is  a  more  dangerous  creature,  and 
could  hardly  be  trusted  in  situations  that  the 
jungle  man  has  had  to  serve  in,  for  he  is  a  born 
anarchist.  The  other  creature  is  of  tardy,  and 
always  begrudged,  and  withheld  education! 
Caste  will  always  provide  place  and  position  in 
social  life;  no  matter  what  laws  are  made,  and 
it  is  a  pity  for  one  race  to  set  itself  up  as  enemy 
to  another,  especially  when  that  other  is  so  use- 
ful to  it,  doing  all  its  hard  and  disagreeable  la- 
bor, as  it  always  has  done. 

The  Major  was  stunned  and  silent  for  a  long 
time.  He  was,  however,  like  the  Virginian  of 
a  century  before;  like  the  Virginian  of  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Civil  War,  he  had  not,  he  did  not 


IRENE  LISCOMB  87 

believe  in  human  slavery  in  reality,  though  he 
had  bought  and  sold  almost  a  thousand  of  them, 
but  there  were  not  enough  white  laborers  who 
could  endure  to  work  in  the  hot  tobacco  and  cot- 
ton fields  and  slavery  had  furnished  help  adapted 
to  it ;  .therefore,  he  had  followed  in  line  with  his 
brother  of  the  Southland:  bought,  sold  and 
worked  them. 

Now  he  was  wondering  if  the  black  would  re- 
main South,  even  when  better  rewarded  for  his 
labor  in  the  North. 

He  felt,  too,  that  the  negro  could  not  have 
been  safely  held  in  slavery  much  longer.  He 
had  seen  the  luxury  of  his  master.  He  had 
learned  in  two  centuries,  slowly  to  be  sure,  the 
value  of  wealth,  and  was  figuring  out  who  had 
produced  that  wealth;  why  should  he  himself  not 
have  a  little  of  that,  too.  He  was  beginning  to 
think  that  if  he  worked  for  a  stated  pay  he 
might  also  lay  by  riches  for  himself  and  his  nu- 
merous progency.  The  slave  was  beginning  to 
ste  that  money  was  the  first  and  greatest  power 
of  civilization;  therefore,  he  was  ready  for  and, 
in  general,  craved  freedom.  Remotely,  he  had 
believed  the  Yankee  would  eventually  help  him 
to  it.  One  evening  the  Major  was  talking  about 
it. 

"The  South  knows  that  many  uprisings  on  re- 
mote plantations  had  been  feared  long  before 
the  Civil  War.  She  knows  also  that  slavery  had 
outgrown  its  land  limitations  and  that  they 
wished  to  invade  the  territories  with  it,  though 
the  recent  Congress,  and  even  Washington  him- 


88  IRENE   LISCOMB 

self,  had  signed  declaration  against  it,  shortly 
before  he  quit  public  office  the  last  time." 

"The  whole  world,  the  North  as  well,  have 
been  handicapped  often,  and  always,  by  laws  that 
their  anarchic  inclinations  despise,  but  find  it 
wiser  and  more  diplomatic  to  obey  than  to  court 
a  war,  with  its  consequent  and  unpreventable 
horrors;  its  barbaric  slaughter!  And  it  is  well!" 

Ned  yawned  as  if  bored,  and  to  veil  his  real 
vexation  from  his  father,  feigned  to  re-read  his 
letters.  A  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  his  country  was 
passing,  and  one  that  did  not  please  the  hot 
blood  of  the  Secessionist.  Ned  was  a  gentleman 
in  his  very  soul,  and  he  would  not  wound  his 
aged  father  by  blurting  out  the  ugly  things  in 
his  mind.  His  father  handed  him  the  newspaper, 
and  pointed  out  the  odious  proclamation.  The 
young  man  read  it  verbatim,  and  merely  said: 

"Well,  that  is  as  concise  as  a  marriage  li- 
cense!" His  face  flushed  red  with  the  passion 
he  was  endeavoring  to  conceal. 

The  family  visited  the  picture  gallery  where 
are  two  thousand  four  hundred  paintings  of 
many  schools,  many  of  them  by  Italian  and 
Flemish  masters.  There  were  a  few  that  these 
unsophisticated  Americans  thought  fit  for  ob- 
scurity and  oblivion  only. 

The  Sistene  Madonna  here  by  Raphael  is  con- 
sidered one  of  the  finest  in  the  world  of  art. 
They  went  into  the  Court  church  to  hear  the 
grand  organ,  built  by  Silberman,  and  into  the 
Kreutzkirche,  with  its  renowned  sculptures  and 
beautiful  interior. 

They  saw  the  Bruhl  Terrace,  on  the  banks  of 


IRENE   LISCOMB  89 

the  Elbe,  a  popular  promenade  in  summer,  where 
is  always  rendered  delightful  music,  and  friend 
greets  friend  socially,  pleasantly. 

In  the  Picture  Gallery  they  met  some  attrac- 
tive American  young  women.  Rather  shyly  they 
spoke  with  them,  finally  introducing  themselves. 

They  found  the  girls  were  there  to  study  Art, 
Music  and  German.  Being  Southerners,  from 
a  part  of  the  country  quite  in  the  line  of  battle, 
in  fact  from  the  direct  seat  of  the  war,  Major 
Liscomb  believed  they  had  been  sent  away  from 
home  more  for  safety  than  for  study,  indeed. 

The  students  invited  their  new  friends  to  visit 
them  in  the  evening,  which  they  did.  They 
talked  to  their  heart's  content  of  their  beautiful 
country  and  its  cruel  war.  They  were  bitter 
against  the  North  and  the  Yankee. 

Spirited,  jolly  girls  as  they  were,  they  ban- 
died words  back  and  forth  with  the  Major, 
whom  they  at  once  suspected  of  being  only  a 
half  friend  to  the  cause  they  enthusiastically  de- 
fended. 

They  were  much  interested,  too,  in  piano  and 
violin  music,  as  well  as  the  copying  of  the  paint- 
ings they  had  undertaken.  Rene  became  greatly 
interested  in  their  colony  and  wished  to  join 
them  for  the  winter  in  their  art  lessons. 

It  was  late  when  they  returned  to  the  hotel, 
and  her  parents  were  pleased  that  Rene's  even- 
ing had  been  so  profitable  to  her.  Indeed  she 
seemed  to  return  to  the  youth  and  joy  of  other 
days. 

The  Major  found  out  all  he  could  about  this 
little  colony  of  girl  students.  He  also  found 


po  IRENE  LISCOMB 

that  he  had  known  relatives  of  the  young  widow, 
who  chaperoned  them,  of  other  days,  in  business 
transactions,  so  he  consented  to  Rene's  sojourn 
with  them,  so  long  as  it  might  please  her  to  re- 
main and  pursue  the  same  three  studies  they 
were  engaged  in.  Particularly  music  was  the 
study  her  family  most  desired  for  her.  She  pre- 
ferred art. 

Seeing  her  so  settled  in  the  narrow,  curtained- 
off  quarters  assigned  her,  and  which  girls  do  not 
mind  a  bit,  the  others  of  the  Liscombs  traveled 
on  to  Vienna,  where  they  halted  again  for  a  few 
days.  They  were  charmed  with  the  Austrian 
capital;  this  fair  rival  of  France's  fair  capital; 
its  fashions  of  millinery  always  more  intense  in 
coloring,  after  the  German  intuition,  perhaps, 
yet  always  a  rival  in  gowns. 

Here  they  added  gowns  to  their  wardrobe, 
suitable  to  the  warmer  regions  they  meant  to  live 
in  for  a  while.  They  sent  Rene  an  evening 
dress  and  some  other  things  she  might  need  in 
her  new  situation  at  Dresden. 

These  things  accomplished,  they  turned  again 
to  visiting  picture  galleries,  palaces  of  the 
House  of  flapsburg,  the  Treasury  of  Antiqui- 
ties and  coins  in  the  Imperial  Burg  and  at  the 
Belvidere. 

As  a  lover  of  music  and  possessing  a  fine  ear, 
Ned  was  quite  happy  to  hear  renditions  of  the 
great  Gluck,  Mozart,  Hayden,  Beethoven  and 
Schubert  in  this,  the  city  of  most  of  their  com- 
positions ;  and  of  their  final  resting  places  within 
its  environments.  He  lingered  long  over  the 
relics  of  these  great  masters  wherever  found. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  91 

They  did  not  hurry  to  travel  southward,  as 
they  had  planned  to.  Ned  said  "Vienna  is  good 
enough  for  me,"  and  they  remained  here  to  revel 
in  music  and  the  gaities  of  the  winter.  They 
had  had  little  gaiety,  Rene  and  Ned,  since  com- 
ing into  their  years  of  majority,  because  of  the 
war,  and  Rene's  unfortunate  matrimonial  ad- 
venture, and  Ned's  college  work. 

Though  it  was  not  the  season  to  see  the  Prater 
at  its  best,  they  drove  through  this  wonderful 
park  one  fine  day  when  they  had  taken  a  car- 
riage to  drive  out  to  Schonbrumn.  Here,  too, 
are  parks  that  can  hardly  be  described.  In  sum- 
mer they  are  simply  grand  works  of  art,  wrought 
out  by  the  landscape  gardener. 

There  are  seats,  arbors,  walls  of  verdure  and 
a  fountain.  The  imperial  chateau  here  sheltered 
Marie  Louise,  while  her  husband  languished  and 
died  at  St.  Helena.  Here  died  their  son,  the 
future  king  of  Rome,  as  his  great  father  had 
planned,  and  the  bed  on  which  he  died  is  still 
shown. 

They  attended  service  in  the  most  prominent 
churches,  but  above  everything  else  in  Vienna, 
they  enjoyed  the  music.  In  America,  they  had  ' 
never  such  bands,  such  orchestras,  and  they 
revelled  in  it  to  their  heart's  content  while  the 
opportunity  lasted. 

Letters  from  Annie  Miller,  letters  from  Rene 
reached  them.  They  seemed  equally  happy  in 
the  enjoyment  of  opera,  concert  and  church  mu- 
sic. The  opera  season  was  on,  and  their  souls 
feasted  on  the  best  music  that  had  ever  been  pro- 
duced. Often  and  often  they  had  tickets,  free, 


92  IRENE   LISCOMB 

to  hear  the  trial  of  some  new  artist  in  his  musi- 
cal debut.  Some  of  them  had  talent  and  skill, 
showing  a  little  hope  for  a  future,  but  under 
such  strict  judges  and  critics  as  Germans  set  up, 
a  very  few  of  these  hard-worked  amateurs  can 
ever  be  anything  but  teachers. 

The  girls  wrote :  "We  don't  aspire  to  ever  be 
granted  even  a  hearing  before  these  mighty 
magistrates."  Few  American  girls  ever  wish  to, 
after  getting  into  all  these  nerve-trying  secrets 
of  the  art  of  music.  It  is  all  too  impossible  for 
them.  We  don't  love  to  work  hard,  so  we  will 
always  be  loiterers  just  outside  the  heavenly 
gates  of  the  divine  art!" 

"Well,  that  is  something,"  said  Ned's  wife. 

"Yes,  yes,  it  is  something  to  be  able  to  appre- 
ciate classic  music.  In  fact  one  must  be  cul- 
tured, refined,  somewhat  posted  in  it,  too,  to  en- 
joy it,  I  know,  so  I  say  again,  it  is  an  accom- 
plishment to  be  able  to  appreciate  it,  and  as  the 
girls  expressed  it,  "be  loiterers  outside  the  heav- 
enly gates;"  continuing:  "So  many  great  people 
cannot  enjoy  music.  They  confess  they  know 
nothing  whatever  of  its  divine — its  holy  thrall. 
I  am  sorry  for  them  always,  for  I  see  how  it  is. 
One  has  to  think  of  it,  drink  of  it,  live  in  its 
sacred  environs,  to  really  enjoy  its  exaltations, 
and  these  are  also  romantic,  poetic  natures." 

They  visited  the  galleries  of  Lichtenstein. 
Went  to  church  at  St.  Stephen's,  and  into  the 
crypt  containing  the  remains  of  royalty. 

At  evening  they  often  commented  on  the 
things  most  interesting  to  them.  They  were  re- 
minded here  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Austria,  who 


IRENE    LISCOMB  93 

had  been  lured  away  by  the  offer  of  a  throne  in 
Mexico  by  the  French,  who  wanted  a  foothold  on 
the  soil  of  that  country,  and  then  deserted  him. 

At  Ned's  suggestion,  they  now  left  the  deci- 
sions about  traveling  to  him.  They  continued 
southward  over  the  most  picturesque  route  in 
Europe. 

This  railway  is  the  first  over  the  Alpine  passes 
ever  constructed.  It  is  carried  along  the  face  of 
precipices  by  a  succession  of  tunnels,  bridges, 
galleries  and  viaducts,  and  affords  a  great  vari- 
ety of  impressive  views,  and  is  considered  one 
of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  engineering  skill  the 
whole  world  affords.  This  winter  had  been  mild, 
and  our  friends  found  their  trip  through  the 
Noric  Alps  most  agreeable. 

One  woman  in  their  van  could  not  look  upon 
the  scenery  at  all,  but  hid  her  eyes  and  wept  over 
its  awesomeness.  The  Liscombs  seemed  to  be 
braced  up  by  that  same  awfulness  of  outlook. 
Nobody  could  talk.  All  conversation  seemed 
hushed  as  if  some  impressive  funeral  were  in 
progress  during  much  of  the  route. 


94  IRENE   LISCOMB 


XL 

THE  YANKEE  SERGEANT. 

The  tourists  next  stopped  at  Venice.  This  city 
of  the  sea  is  built  on  a  cluster  of  islands.  Its 
crumbling  castles  are  said  to  have  been  built  by 
the  nobles  of  Rome,  when  they  fled  before  the 
conquering  Huns.  There  is  one  noted  old  well 
of  fresh  water  in  Venice  and  many  shops. 

The  ebb  and  flow  of  the  sea  left  an  unpleasant 
odor.  The  palaces  were  shaky  and  all  the  build- 
ings seemed  ready  to  topple  into  the  sea,  which 
the  Campanile  succeeded  in,  some  years  later. 
They  visited  the  glass  factory,  where  a  great 
variety  of  different  kinds  of  glassware  is  manu- 
factured ;  had  their  initials  blown  into  glass  balls 
for  souvenirs. 

They  bought  laces  in  the  lace  factory;  saw 
laces  worth  a  prince's  ransom.  Of  views  and 
cards  they  also  laid  in  a  supply  to  send  to  friends 
at  home.  The  Bridge  of  Sighs  was  the  last  place 
a  prisoner  saw  the  light  of  heaven.  When  he 
crossed  it,  it  was  after  sentence  of  death,  which 
the  final  Triumvirate  had  passed  upon  him  in  a 
chamber  in  the  upper  part  of  the  palace  of  the 
one  time  rulers  of  Venice;  that  was  the  Doges. 
Here  they  saw  the  frescoes  also  on  the  walls  of 
the  palace. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  95 

They  took  a  steamer  on  the  Grand  Canal,  that 
is  the  Broadway  of  Venice,  for  a  tour  of  its 
islands.  The  lunatic  asylum  occupied  one;  a 
Monastery  of  Monks  occupied  another  with  a 
printing  office.  Here  it  was  that  Lord  Byron 
studied  the  Armenian  language.  In  the  office  of 
the  hotel  it  was  said  he  and  his  friend  Moore 
had  chatted,  and  a  room  was  pointed  out,  said 
to  have  been  occupied  by  him.  All  in  all,  they 
enjoyed  Venice  exceedingly  well.  The  monks 
showed  some  of  Byron's  handwriting.  The  Col- 
onnade ran  all  around  the  open  square,  where 
were  all  the  principal  shops.  They  were  in  St. 
Mark's  Cathedral  during  a  Sunday  morning  ser- 
vice. At  the  end  of  the  Rialto  Bridge  was  the 
loggia  or  "den,"  in  which  Shakespeare  wrote  the 
Merchant  of  Venice,  culled  it  from  an  old  Italian 
novel.  Rialto  also  is  the  name  of  the  largest  of 
this  group  of  islands  with  its  old  gray  villas  and 
its  145  water  streets,  over  which  the  gondola 
carries  one.  They  visited  the  Art  Gallery  one 
morning. 

One  moonlight  night  they  took  a  couple  of 
gondolas  for  a  little  outing  on  the  water.  Each 
gondolier  wore  a  bright  scarf.  Ned  and  Alice, 
like  two  childish  lovers,  always  liked  to  be  alone 
to  talk  sweet  nonsense,  to  indulge  in  romancing. 
To-night  was  the  kind  to  lure  them  into  it. 

"Darling,"  she  said,  "how  beautiful  is  the  sky 
and  water,  and  how  sweet  that  we  can  be  here  to- 
gether, after  your  long  and  terrifying  illness! 
O,  I  am  so  happy,  I  feel  almost  exalted  out  of 
my  senses!" 

"Three  years  ago — Oh,  how  much  has  hap- 


96  IRENE   LISCOMB 

pened  in  four  years!  But  three  years  ago,  we 
did  not  think  to  be  in  this  old  city !  Yes,  this  old 
city  of  the  sea  with  its  many  tragedies  and  dif- 
ferent governments  and  its  always  wash — wash 
of  water.  It  is  all  so  agreeable!" 

"Would  you  like  to  live  here,  Ned?" 

"No,  Alice,  I  must  go  home.  I  do  not  talk 
before  father,  but  I  must  go  home.  I  have  a 
right  in  the  new  administration  of  our  States' 
Government.  If  we  cannot  hold  on  to  the  Con- 
federacy, we  can  do  almost  as  much  for  our- 
selves in  getting  the  right  hold  on  State's  Rights ; 
you  see,  State's  Rights !" 

"Ned,  you  bore  arms  against  the  United 
States  Government.  It  will  be  a  long  time  before 
the  North  will  ever  let  you  have  much  power  in 
the  affairs  of  Government!" 

"Yes,  I  know  it,  but  I  shall  make  a  fine  effort 
to  help  my  loved  South  to  her  rights.  Now,  you 
mark  what  I've  said.  If  the  South  surrenders 
her  arms  and  stops  fighting,  she'll  not  change 
her  opinions.  She'll  hold  on  to  States'  Rights 
till  the  last  horn  blows." 

"Do  you  suppose  she'll  surrender?  Can't  they 
in  some  way  hold  on  to  the  Confederacy?" 

"No,  no,  they  haven't  the  men  and  now  that 
the  negro  is  free  they'll  have  no  more  cotton  to 
sell,  so  where  will  they  get  money?  Let  us  not 
talk.  I  hate  the  North  so,  that  I  shall  stamp  the 
bottom  out  of  this  gondola  if  we  do." 

Quickly  changing  the  subject,  Alice  said  "I've 
been  thinking  much  about  my  dear  mother  of 
late,  and  wondering  where  she  is.  Those  North- 
ern relatives  of  hers,  to  whom  she  went  when 


IRENE  LISCOMB  97 

I  ran  away  to  follow  you,  are  enemies  to  us 
Southerners,  of  course!  I've  had  no  news  of 
her  since  the  letter  I  received  when  we  were  at 
that  temporary  hospital  on  the  Hudson  River. 
She  had  been  well  received  by  them,  and  I  hope 
she  is  still  there. 

"She  wrote  that  my  cousins,  Henry  and  Jo- 
seph, were  both  in  the  army  of  Yankees,  South, 
and  sent  me  photographs  of  them  in  their  uni- 
form. One  is  Sergeant;  the  other  is  a  second 
Lieutenant.  I  will  show  them  to  you  the  first 
time  I  get  to  ransacking  in  that  old  trunk  again. 
It  is  in  that  one  with  the  black  strap  about  it. 
The  one  I  told  you  was  father's." 

"So  your  cousins,  Joseph  and  Henry  Wood, 
are  in  the  Northern  army,  and  your  sweetheart, 
Ned,  was  in  the  Southern  army,  shooting  at 
them.  A  disagreeable  situation !  Do  you  believe 
they'll  ever  condone  your  grievous  sin  in  loving 
and  marrying  a  Johnny  Reb?  That  is  what  they 
called  us  Southerners.  'Say,  you  Johnny  Reb, 
got  any  tobacco  ?'  " 

"Ah  reckon,  you  blasted  Yankee."  They  had 
just  been  put  out  as  picket  guard,  and  so  soon  as 
the  officer  of  the  day  on  each  side  disappeared, 
they  had  sneaked  a  little  nearer  each  other. 
"Give  me  a  chaw,  won't  you?" 

"That  is  strange,  I'm  sure,"  said  his  wife, 
laughing. 

"Well,  we'd  shoot  each  other  in  a  second  if 
necessary,  but  a  tobacco  famine  was  always  a 
leveler,  I  tell  you.  It  made  us  akin." 

Alice  laughed  doubtingly. 

"I  tell  you  it  is  true.    The  youth  that  shot  me, 


98  IRENE   LISCOMB 

gave  me  drink  from  his  canteen  in  ten  minutes 
afterward,  as  they  retreated  back  over  the  field 
where  I  had  fallen.  Blood  was  on  my  lips — 
salty  blood,  and  I  remember  wishing  for  water. 
I  suppose  I  called  for  it;  anyhow  he  gave  me 
water  out  of  his  canteen." 

"The  boy  thought  he  had  killed  me,  and  I 
know  he  was  sorry.  I  thought  the  same  thing, 
and  felt  no  anger  as  I  heard  the  rattle  in  my 
lungs.  Alice,  I  wish  he  knew  that  I  lived  over. 
Only  God  knows  if  he  were  not  soon  killed,  per- 
haps in  the  same  battle!" 

"Ned,  you  don't  feel  now  like  stamping  the 
bottom  out  of  the  gondola,  do  you?" 

"No,  no,  only  when  I  think  of  those  who  led 
us  into  the  war.  These  quarrelsome  fellows  in 
Congress  in  1860." 

The  gondola  had  brought  them  back  to  the 
hotel,  where  the  others  were  waiting  for  them, 
while  other  gondolas  of  singers  were  amusing 
them. 

"Alice,  daughter,"  since  Rene  was  not  with 
them,  the  Major  often  called  her  daughter,  "have 
you  remarked  these  wonderful  tenors?  Listen 
to  them!" 

"Haven't  I?  They  captured  me  the  first  time 
I  heard  them.  This  is  most  surely  the  country 
of  tenors.  With  just  a  simple  violin  or  even  an 
accordeon,  they  are  perfectly  ravishing.  I  sup- 
pose they  are  mostly  Tenore  Robusto  in  quality. 
All  I  have  heard  are  that  sort." 

"I  wish  we  Americans  loved  and  indulged 
more  in  music.  I  did  practice  some  in  college, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  99 

you  know,"  said  Ned.  "Let  us  do  more  of  it 
hereafter." 

"I  adore  music!"  declared  his  wife.  "We 
will,  indeed  we  will,  have  more  music  in  our 
home.  We  both  have  had  instruction  in  the  art. 
What-  could  be  sweeter  than  a  weekly  home 
musicale,  out  at  the  old  plantation  ?  Let  us  par- 
ticularly observe  all  the  parts  of  all  the  rendi- 
tions we  may  hear  from  now  on,  and  carry 
home  with  us  the  librettos;  the  scores  of  what- 
ever we  can  get." 

"Better  say  of  whatever  we  can  hope  to  man- 
age without  a  leader." 

"It  has  just  occurred  to  my  mind  that  we  can 
get  musical  people,  even  professional  musicians, 
to  pass  vacations  out  at  the  plantation,  and  they 
will  help  us." 

"Provided  always  if  we  can  get  servants.  Pro- 
fessional people  must  eat,  and  one  must  have 
cooks  you  know. 

"  'We  may  live  without  art,  and  live  without 

books, 
But  civilized  man  cannot  live  without  cooks.' "  \ 

"Oh,  stop,  Ned!1  Yes,  that  kills  all  pleasure 
for  all  womankind.  It  makes  most  social  and 
educational  enjoyments  pall  on  her  mind;  that 
everlasting  care  of  cooking;  catering  for  it,  if 
she  really  don't  cook  herself,"  said  his  wife. 

"Don't  think  about  it,  wife.  I  hope  the  South 
may  keep  enough  niggers  to  cook  for  us.  They 
can't  all  get  away,  and  the  plentiful  little  ones 
they  have  will  soon  be  grown,  to  cook  for  us." 


ioo  IRENE  LISCOMB 

While  packing  their  effects  the  next  morning 
to  leave  Venice,  their  latest  love,  as  they  all 
ardently  termed  the  old  city,  Alice  found  the 
photographs  she  had  promised  to  show  her  hus- 
band. He  saw  in  the  First  Lieutenant  only  the 
hated  Northern  blue  uniform;  but  in  that  of  the 
Sergeant,  Henry  Wood,  he  seemed  to  see  more, 
for  he  looked  still  longer  and  closer  upon  it. 

Annie,  noticing  the  particular  interest  he  paid 
it,  left  her  work,  and  putting  her  arm  about  his 
neck,  asked  him, 

"Is  he  not  a  fine,  large  fellow?  He  was  not 
yet  twenty-one,  this  Yankee  cousin  of  mine, 
when  he  was  in  his  first  battle;  but,  Ned  dear, 
what  is  it?  Are  you  ill  again?" 

He  did  not  answer,  but  looked  yet  closer  upon 
Sergeant  Wood's  photograph  and  his  hated  blue 
uniform.  Then,  dropping  it  on  the  table  before 
him,  said  brokenly: 

"That  soldier  is  the  one  who  shot  me!  As 
sure  as  I  am  here,  it  was  he,  too,  who  gave  me 
to  drink  out  of  his  canteen!"  He  took  up  the 
photo  again  and  looked  upon  it  with  changing 
and  awful  countenance.  He  saw  again  the  bat- 
tlefield— heard  the  screech  and  ping,  and  the 
shrill  whistle  of  bullets ;  saw  his  gray-coated  men 
falling  about  him ;  saw  the  hated  blue  coats  rush- 
ing nearer!  He  had  shouted  "Fix  bayonets!" 
Then  a  blow,  a  sting  on  the  upper  part  of  his 
breast !  He  knew  that  he  fell !  He  heard  the 
blood  gurgling  in  his  throat  and  lungs.  He  was 
wretchedly  thirsty,  with  salty  blood  on  his  lips. 
Then  this  big  boy  gave  him  drink  out  of  his  can- 
teen; this  Sergeant  who  had  shot  him.  He  re- 


IRENE  LISCOMB  101 

called  again  that  hateful  victorious  yell  of  the 
enemy's  men  through  it  all. 

Just  then,  Major  Liscomb  rapped  on  the  door, 
saying, 

"It  is  time  to  go,  my  children !" 

Ned  pulled  himself  together  and  staggered 
to  the  rack  for  his  overcoat. 

As  they  traveled  along,  Ned  did  no  talking, 
and  as  he  was  looking  ill  and  exhausted,  his 
mother  turned  to  Alice  and  asked  of  her, 

"Is  Ned  not  so  well  this  morning  ?"  while  look- 
ing anxiously  at  him. 

"No,  he  is  not  so  very  well  this  morning,  but 
he  is  not  so  very  ill,  or  I  should  have  told  you 
to  wait  over  in  Venice  until  to-morrow." 

Mrs.  Liscomb  took  from  her  hand-bag  a  tiny 
flask  of  spirits  she  carried,  as  a  duty  to  the  party, 
and  begged  him  to  take  a  swallow.  He  did  pre- 
tend to,  but  really  he  could  not.  He  was  unable 
to  swallow  it  now. 

In  after  months  he  told  Alice  that  he  could 
hardly  remember  how  they  had  left  Venice 

En  route,  however,  when  his  mother  seemed 
to  pay  no  further  attention  to  him,  Ned  said  in 
an  undertone  to  Alice: 

"Tell  nothing!  Women  talk  so  much.  I  want 
to  be  quiet." 

So  Alice  held  her  tongue,  thinking  "how  ner- 
vous he  is !  Just  as  he  used  to  say  when  he  was 
so  ill.  Women  talk  so  much;  be  quiet!"  Now, 
I  believe  they  do  talk  too  much.  All  the  silly 
things  they  are  always  gabbling  about,  only  lets 
men  see  their  lame  and  weak  characters.  I  am 
going  to  be  more  reserved.  Folks  will  think 


IO2  IRENE   LISCOMB 

more  of  a  person  they  don't  so  familiarly  under- 
stand, I  am  sure.  Glad  I  got  to  thinking  about 
it.  Thinking  is  better,  anyhow !" 

So  Alice  held  her  tongue,  and  there  was  little 
conversation  between  the  Major  and  his  wife 
until  they  reached  Florence,  and  had  slept. 

Then  they  visited  the  Uffizzi  and  Pitti  galler- 
ies of  paintings,  sculptures  and  other  art  treas- 
ures, the  museums,  the  Cathedral  of  Sante 
Maria  del  Flore.  They  went  into  the  church  of 
Santa  Croce  to  see  the  tombs  of  Michael  Angelo, 
Galileo,  Macchiavelli.  At  the  former  convent  of 
Onafrio,  they  saw  the  picture  by  Raphael  of  the 
Last  Supper.  They  visited  the  tombs  of  The 
Medici.  The  famous  Florentine  gallery  con- 
tains the  Venus  de  Medici,  the  groups  of  the 
Niobe,  and  the  richest  collection  of  paintings  and 
sculptures  in  the  world. 

The  tourists  remained  several  days  in  Flor- 
ence, to  rest  and  to  study  its  great  art  treasures. 
Letters  and  newspapers  from  home  gave  the 
movements  of  the  two  armies.  The  grand  finale 
seemed  to  be  not  far  off,  however  reluctant  the 
one  party  was  to  acknowledge  it  yet. 

The  North  had  its  secret  societies  to  fight,  as 
well  as  the  open  armies  at  the  South.  Lee  had 
sought  to  get  the  battlefield  on  Northern  soil, 
where  he  could  better  clothe  and  feed  his  army, 
as  they  were  almost  naked  and  almost  starving. 

Then  at  Richmond,  they  were  finally  cut  off 
from  everything,  by  the  beleaguering  army  of 
the  North.  What  more  could  be  done  ? 


IRENE   LISCOMB  103 


XII. 

SURRENDER — ASASSINATION. 

The  Liscombs  went  from  Florence  to  Rome, 
where  they  were  entertaining  themselves  ear- 
nestly in  sight-seeing,  in  the  city  of  all  others, 
they  had  been  most  interested  since  childhood. 
They  felt  blest,  beyond  anticipation  even,  in  be- 
ing upon  the  real  streets  of  old  Rome,  as  they 
yet  termed  the  city. 

They  had  visited  the  Colosseum  by  day  and 
again  by  moonlight.  A  guide  went  with  them 
to  every  place  they  visited,  explaining  all  things 
explainable,  from  the  rise  to  the  decline  of  the 
power  of  Rome,  as  demonstrated  from  the  re- 
cent discoveries  and  excavations. 

One  morning  they  stood  within  the  ruins  of 
the  Caracalla  Baths,  where  excavations  were 
still,  in  a  small  way,  going  on.  The  marble* 
facings  of  this  colossal  structure,  as  well  as  those 
of  the  Colosseum,  had  been  removed  by  victors 
in  war,  and  carried  away  to  decorate  churches 
and  public  buildings  elsewhere. 

It  was  hard  to  believe  when  at  the  Colosseum 
that  they  were  looking  upon  the  arena  where 
human  lives  had  gone  out,  in  sight  of  the  nobles 
of  the  city;  in  sight  of  the  exalted  to  high  and 
honored  seats,  the  Vestal  Virgins  and  many 


IO4  IRENE  LISCOMB 

thousands  of  others.  The  dens  under  the  arena 
were  seen,  where  the  wild  beasts  kept  for  this 
spectacle  had  been  housed. 

They  visited  Basilicas,  which  in  the  olden  time 
had  been  palaces  of  Justice,  as  well  as  churches; 
went  to  the  House  of  Caesar,  the  Colossus  of 
Nero,  several  Temples,  Arch  of  Titus,  The  Por- 
tico Margaritaria,  Arch  of  Drusus,  Catacombs 
of  St.  Calixtus,  Tombs  of  Saints,  and  Tomb  of 
Hadrian,  now  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  Circus 
Marentius;  saw  the  second  and  fourth  Walls  of 
Rome.  Another  day  they  went  out  to  the  Ap- 
pian  Way.  Visited  the  Tomb  of  Cecilia  Marella, 
the  Camere  and  the  Loggia  of  Raphael. 

They  were  in  the  Sistine  Chapel  at  the  Vati- 
can, and  in  its  museum  of  Sculptures;  looked 
out  of  a  window  in  the  Vatican,  upon  its  gar- 
dens where  the  Pope  took  his  drive  or  walk  each 
day,  as  he  never  left  the  Vatican,  only  to  cross 
a  paved  space  to  go  into  St.  Peter's,  and,  indeed, 
was  carried  there. 

"I  am  sure  we  might  profitably  pass  a  month 
here,"  said  Alice  one  day. 

"There  is  nothing  to  prevent  it,  I  hope,"  re- 
plied her  husband.  "Only  let  us  not  hurry.  I 
want  to  keep  these  great  historic  sights  clear  in 
my  memory.  When  we  hurry  from  one  thing  to 
another,  I  lose  trace  of  the  things  I  want  most 
to  remember." 

Again  they  were  out  sight-seeing,  and  went  to 
St.  Paul's  Gate,  and  to  the  Pyramid  Caius  Ces- 
tus,  and  into  the  Basilica  of  St.  Paul,  outside  the 
Walls;  then  to  the  Remuria  Hill.  Visited  St. 
Peter  in  Vincoli,  the  Moses  of  Michael  Angelo, 


IRENE   LisrrwB  105 

the  Trevi  Fountain;  had  a  fine  view  of  Rome 
from  St.  Pietro  in  Montoria,  as  also  a  view  of 
the  Campagna,  from  the  same  place. 

At  St.  Peter's  one  morning  they  heard  a  con- 
cert of  priests'  voices.  The  whole  group  of  them 
swung  .censers,  and  wore  extraordinarily  fine 
and  showy  lace  cassocks.  "All  were  solemnly, 
gracefully  handsome,"  as  Alice  expressed  it. 

The  great  toe  of  the  Colossal  statue  of  St. 
Peter,  in  the  center  of  the  vast  interior,  was 
really  half  kissed  away  by  the  devotees  of  the 
church,  as  they  passed  over  the  huge  blocks  of 
marble  of  the  floor  during  the  centuries  of  its 
existence. 

The  sonorous  intonations  of  the  mass  service 
reminded  them  of  the  service  in  St.  Paul's  in 
London,  where  the  intonations  are  about  the 
same. 

The  Cemetery  of  St.  Lorenzo  is  the  great 
modern  burial  ground  of  Rome.  It  adjoins  the 
church  of  the  same  name.  St.  Pudentianca, 
thought  to  be  the  most  ancient  of  all  the  churches 
in  Rome,  occupies  the  site  of  the  house  of 
Pudens,  the  Senator,  with  whom  St.  Paul 
lodged. 

Tired  from  their  day's  sight-seeing,  all  four 
of  them  were  resting  in  the  parents'  apartment. 
Ned  was  lying  at  full  length  on  the  couch  and 
one  remarked  how  his  fine,  tall  physique  was  be- 
ginning to  take  on  muscularity  once  more.  His 
large  blue  eyes  were  now  and  then  almost  hidden 
by  the  drowsy  eyelids.  Alice  was  in  an  arm 
chair  at  his  head,  and  sometimes  tossed  his  new 
curly  hair  about  in  playful  movement. 


io6  IRENE  LISCOMB 

The  little  English  paper,  published  in  Rome, 
to  which  all  the  English  speaking  colony  in  the 
city  were  subscribers,  was  brought  up  to  them. 
The  Major  unfolded  it  and  read  aloud  to  the 
family : 

"Surrender  of  Lee's  Army  to  General  Grant 
at  Appomattox!" 

Ned  sat  up  on  the  couch.  "Read  on,  quick; 
read  all  of  it,  father!"  he  cried  out,  very  ner- 
vously excited.  He  never  knew  why  he  put  on 
his  coat  as  he  listened. 

"Grant  was  very  generous  in  the  hour  of  his 
triumph.  He  offered  honorable  terms,  which 
Lee  accepted.  The  surrender  was  made  April 
ninth.  There  was  no  bitterness  manifested  be- 
tween those  who  had  lost  and  those  who  had 
won  in  this  great  conflict.  Men  in  blue  and  men 
in  gray  gathered  around  the  same  camp  fires; 
the  well-fed  Northern  soldier  sharing  his  ra- 
tions with  the  half-starved  Southern  brother.  In 
war  enemies ;  in  peace  friends.  The  Confederate 
forces  in  other  parts  of  the  country  have  laid 
down  their  arms." 

Ned  muttered  in  undertone : 

"Well,  I'll  be  hanged!"  although  he  had  ex- 
pected just  that  sort  of  news,  but  the  idea  of  the 
brotherly  friendship  was  a  "staggerer"  he  said 
afterwards  and  he  felt  disgusted.  Then  he 
thought  of  Henry  Wood  and  his  canteen  of  wa- 
ter that  time  on  the  battlefield.  He  only  said : 

"Well,  I  am  glad  it  is  over  now !"  The  father 
had  found  more  news  from  America  as  he 
turned  the  paper  inside  out  and  read  again 
aloud : 


IRENE   LISCOMB  107 

"The  whole  of  the  North  is  simply  mad  with 
joy  over  the  surrender !  Bells  have  been  ringing 
for  hours.  Drums  have  been  beating,  till  one 
might  believe  pandemonium  has  been  let  loose. 
In  the  rustic  places  men  ride  horses  like  mad, 
shouting,  screaming,  through  the  streets!  The 
floral  decorations  are  in  evidence  everywhere. 
Horses  are  garlanded  with  them  and  gladness  is 
expressed  in  every  possible  way.  All  the  land  is 
lighted  by  bonfires.  Clubs  are  singing." 

"This  little  sheet  cannot,  does  not  tell  it  all, 
Alas!"  said  Mrs.  Liscomb.  "How  many  hide 
away  to  weep  while  this  public  rejoicing  is  going 
on,  only  God  knows!  These  know  that  the 
slaughtered  son,  the  slain  father  cannot  come 
back,  and  their  own  hearts  are  broken  forever! 
How  many  women  will  have  to  toil  and  toil  all 
the  rest  of  their  lives  to  support  men  who  will 
return  broken  in  health  and  spirit !" 

"Oh,  wife,  stop!  Let  us  rejoice  with  the 
wretched  people  who  are  glad,  and  I  warrant  you 
that  means  everybody  North  or  South.  Re- 
joice, rejoice  at  any  rate  that  we  have  our  son, 
though  we  lost  so  much  of  our  property!" 

Ned  was  walking  back  and  forth  from  the 
bedroom  to  the  little  parlor,  much  agitated, 
though  in  a  state  of  mind  from  which  a  burden 
had  been  lifted.  He  hardly  knew  whether  to 
rejoice  or  curse,  when  he  thought  of  the  labor, 
the  money,  the  lives  that  had  been  wasted  in 
vain,  and  the  ruined  lives  of  the  young  men  of 
the  South. 

They  could  have  no  particular  political  stand- 
ing. In  fact,  he  had  planned  a  life  in  politics 


io8  IRENE  LISCOMB 

for  himself.  Now,  of  course,  he  could  have 
nothing  of  that  sort  for  a  long,  long  time,  if 
ever. 

They  had  tickets  for  a  theatre  that  evening. 
Between  acts,  the  orchestra  played  Yankee 
Doodle,  either  at  the  beginning  or  the  ending  of 
their  intervals.  That  Yankee  Doodle  music 
thrilled  on  Ned's  nerves,  as  if  they  would  ridi- 
cule America,  and  he  felt  like  resenting  it. 
Really,  the  manager  thought  he  was  paying  com- 
pliment to  the  American  colony  in  Rome  by 
playing  the  "American  National  Air,"  as  the  Eu- 
ropeans like  to  call  it. 

Sight-seeing  went  on  in  a  day  or  so.  They 
visited  the  Pantheon,  the  Stadium  and  stood  be- 
side the  Tarpeian  Rock,  with  its  bloody  trage- 
dies and  annals,  thinking  of  those  who  had  been 
made  to  leap  from  it  to  their  death  below. 

As  usual,  they  were  enraptured  with  the 
Southern  music  and  indulged  in  it  abundantly. 
Many  views  and  souvenirs  were  sent  to  Rene  at 
Dresden. 

They  returned  some  calls,  due  to  some  Ameri- 
can acquaintances  in  the  city.  The  Pope  they 
had  only  seen  once,  but  his  pale,  thin  face  would 
always  remain  in  their  memories,  because  of  its 
gentleness  of  expression  and  evident  bodily  suf- 
fering. 

Some  Florentine  stone  mosaics  had  been  made 
for  them.  Etruscan  Silver  Filagree  pieces  of 
jewelry,  too,  were  securely  put  away  to  be  car- 
ried home. 

It  was  the  fifteenth  of  April.  They  would 
start  on  their  journey  away  from  Rome  on  the 


IRENE   LISCOMB  109 

sixteenth.  An  attache  of  the  Embassy  whom 
Ned  had  met,  called  upon  them.  He  seemed  to 
be  very  grave,  they  all  thought,  and  very  soon 
revealed  the  reason  therefor  by  beginning. 

"Have  you  heard  anything  this  morning  from 
America  ?" 

"No,"  answered  Ned.  "Is  there  anything 
new — anything  since  the  surrender?" 

"O,  yes,  indeed.  They  have  received  bad  news 
at  the  Embassy.  You  have  not  heard  that  the 
President  has  been  assassinated?" 

"The  President  assassinated!"  the  whole  four 
exclaimed  at  once. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  was  shot  last  night  by  John 
Wilkes  Booth  at  Ford's  theater.  He  is  dead! 
The  whole  country  is  stricken  dumb.  The 
South  will  be  blamed  with  it,  I  fear,  and  will 
have  to  suffer  for  this  wretched,  misguided  ac- 
tor's deed,  who  imagined  himself  performing  the 
act  of  a  patriot!" 

"Yes,  it  will  go  hard  with  the  South  from 
now  on.  It  is  fortunate  she  had  surrendered. 
But  the  North  will  avenge  this  in  the  terms  of 
reconstruction.  Well,  what  a  misfortune  cer- 
tainly! Why — what  did  any  one  think  could  be 
gained  by  assassinating  the  President?"  so 
speculated  Ned,  utterly  bewildered  by  the 
enormity  of  yet  another  act  in  the  dark  list  of 
horrors  of  the  last  four  years. 

Bowing  solemnly,  the  young  man  from  the 
Embassy  backed  himself  out  of  Major  Lis- 
comb's  rooms. 

The   Major  was  walking  up   and   down  the 


no  IRENE  LISCOMB 

length  of  the  two  rooms,  very  much  agitated. 
He  paused,  and  said  rather  coldly:  "That  is  no 
worse  than  starving  men  to  death  in  Anderson- 
ville  prison,  is  it,  Ned?" 

In  a  minute  Ned  was  on  his  metal,  and  flush- 
ing angrily,  retorted: 

"Father,  the  Southern  people  had  nothing  to 
do  with  this  assassination — nothing  at  all!  It 
was  done  by  a  mad  man.  You've  heard  it.  Don't 
say  things  you  may  regret.  Don't." 

"No,  my  son.  I  will  not,  but  I  hoped  all 
atrocities  and  brutalities  were  over,  and  I  am 
wholly  knocked  out  by  this  dreadful  deed !  God, 
have  mercy  on  us !  God,  help  us !" 

They  were  all  weeping  now.  There  was  deep 
humiliation  and  sorrow  in  their  hearts.  Cer- 
tainly no  Northern  group  was  at  this  moment 
more  grieved  than  this  family  of  the  South, 
though  far  from  the  scene.  Indeed  they  feared 
it  might  renew  the  dark  war  they  had  just  lived 
through. 

"The  struggle  is  not  over,  Ned.  It  will  never 
be  over,  I  fear !"  and  the  old  man  swept  bitterly 
again. 

The  little  English  paper  was  delivered  that 
afternoon,  and  it  teemed  with  telegraphic  and 
cable  news,  which  they  eagerly  read  and  re-read. 

"America  in  deep  mourning.  Not  a  house  in 
the  North  but  is  in  deepest  sorrow  and  is  draped 
with  emblems  of  sorrow.  Women  have  donned 
black  so  far  as  they  can,  if  only  to  wear  bows  of 
black  crape  at  the  throat,  or  tied  upon  the  arm. 
All  pictures  of  the  dead  President  are  wreathed 


IRENE   LISCOMB  in 

in  crape.  The  people  speak  in  whispers.  Such 
quiet  and  solemnity  has  never  fallen  over  a 
whole  nation.  Officers  are  on  the  track  of  the 
assassin.  He  cannot  escape  them!" 

They  did  not  leave  Rome  on  the  fifteenth,  nor 
on  the  sixteenth.  They  were  stupefied  by  this 
last  act,  and  remained,  mourning,  without  com- 
fort and  in  solitude,  only  for  a  drive  on  the  next 
day  outside  the  city.  They  did  not  wish  the  pub- 
lic to  look  upon  them;  they  felt  disgraced  and 
degraded ! 

The  news  from  home  was  always  impatiently 
awaited  and  eagerly  read  by  the  family  at  the 
Hotel  de  Milan.  The  moves  and  plans  of  the 
new  President  were  jealously  watched,  though 
he  was  himself  a  Southerner,  and  would  under- 
stand what  the  South  would  want  in  the  recon- 
struction. 

Annie  Miller  wrote  from  Leipsic  to  Rene  at 
Dresden,  and  she  repeated  it  to  the  rest  of  the 
family  in  Rome,  that  her  Yankee  Lieutenant  and 
affianced  lover  was  urging  her  to  return  to 
America.  He  would  soon  be  mustered  out  of 
service,  his  time  of  enlistment  being  nearly  over, 
he  wished  to  be  married  very  soon. 

Rene  had  also  much  to  write  about  the  shock 
and  consternation  among  the  Americans  in  Dres- 
den, when  the  announcement  of  the  assassination 
reached  them.  It  was  at  the  end  of  a  delightful 
musical  entertainment,  when  an  American  had 
proclaimed  the  awful  tidings  before  the  drop 
curtain  of  the  stage. 

Rene  did  not  at  all  approve  this  pending  mar- 


H2  IRENE   LISCOMB 

riage  of  Annie  Miller  to  the  Yankee  Lieuten- 
ant, Joseph  Wood,  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

As  Ned's  wife  heard  the  name  read  out  by 
Major  Liscomb,  she  excitedly  cried  out — "Why 
that  is  my  cousin,  Lieutenant  Joseph  Wood !" 


IRENE  LISCOMB 


XIII. 

LAST   SAD  RITES — SCULPTURE. 

Rene  also  wrote  in  such  an  animated  manner 
about  her  sketching  tours  with  the  girls  of  the 
colony;  that  her  family  began  to  believe  she  was 
forgetting  the  hateful  episode  that  had  wrenched 
from  her  life  all  the  joyful  buoyancy  of  youth. 
The  letter  ended,  Ned  asked : 

"O,  Alice,  do  you  really  believe  that  Second 
Lieutenant  Joseph  Wood  is  brother  to  your 
cousin,  Sergeant  Henry  Wood?" 

"I  certainly  do,  though  I  never  heard  her 
mention  the  name.  I  only  heard  her  say  'my 
Yankee  Lieutenant'  in  speaking  of  him.  I  paid 
little  attention  to  the  affair,  believing  it  only  a 
flirtation ;  a  girl  in  love  with  a  uniform." 

Ned  could  not  drop  the  subject.  This  Sec- 
ond  Lieutenant  had  interested  him,  because  he 
might  be  a  brother  to  Henry  Wood,  and  he  was 
thinking  again  of  that  battlefield,  whereon  he 
had  so  nearly  given  up  his  life,  whereon  he  had 
parted  with  most  of  his  youth's  intensity.  He 
remembered  the  boy's  great  dark  eyes,  almost 
starting  from  their  sockets,  and  wondered  if  he 
was  killed  that  day  at  Chickamauga  Creek.  He 
was  very  thoughtful  a  moment,  and  asked: 

Alice,  can't  you  write  to  Annie  Miller  and  find 


114  IRENE  LTSCOMB 

out  if  her  Second  Lieutenant,  Joseph  Wood,  had 
a  brother  Henry,  a  Sergeant  in  an  infantry  regi- 
ment, and  who  was  in  the  battle  at  Chickamauga 
Creek?" 

"Certainly,  certainly,  I  will  do  that  at  once, 
before  she  leaves  Leipsic.  Well,  what  a  curious 
coincidence  indeed,  if  we  should  find  ourselves 
so  mixed  up  in  our  relationship  with  Northern 
soldiers !" 

Alice  continued  conversation. 

"When  we  return  to  America,  we  will  visit 
mother,  who  lives  with  these  warlike  relatives 
of  mine,  and  you  can  see  what  sort  of  people 
live  North.  I  don't  know  them  myself." 

"I  lived  North  a  year  at  college,  just  before 
the  war.  I  did  not  like  the  people.  They  were 
always  talking  about  slavery.  They  knew  I 
was  a  Southerner,  and  I  think  they  did  it  for 
nasty  impudence  to  me!" 

The  long  days  before  Mr.  Lincoln's  funeral 
were  days  of  retrospection  for  some  sections  un- 
doubtedly. While  the  funeral  service  was  in 
progress  in  Washington,  a  memorial  service  was 
being  conducted  in  most  towns  of  the  country 
north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Sincere  grief 
and  mourning  showed  in  the  great  crowds  of 
people  congregated  everywhere  on  the  railroad 
route  of  the  journey  west  to  Springfield,  Illi- 
nois, the  home  of  the  grand  old  martyr.  It  was 
a  most  solemn  pageant  all  the  way,  and  all  the 
honor  that  could  be  was  shown  his  memory  by 
hearts  sobbing  with  anguish! 

How  he  had  borne  ridicule,  sarcasm,  insult, 
mockery  and  death  for  his  loved  country!  How 


IRENE   LISCOMB  115 

he  had  struggled  to  restore  his  erring  brother  to 
all  rights  in  the  United  States  Government.  He 
had  not  in  his  character  any  hate  for  his  critics. 
He  only  meant  to.  do  his  duty  to  his  beloved 
country  in  the  way  God  should  direct  him.  His 
opponents  in  the  South  soon  understood  that, 
when  they  had  humiliating  conditions  put  upon 
them  by  misrule  and  mistakes  of  those  who  fol- 
lowed in  governing  the  South,  that  aroused  them 
to  utter  madness,  and  they  finally  got  things  into 
shape  by  bloody,  high-handed  resolution  and 
revolution  in  their  own  States.  But  there  was  a 
dark  and  long  comedy  of  errors  enacted,  before 
the  wrecked  government  could  be  once  more  re- 
stored to  tranquility — to  perfect  brotherhood, 
perhaps  never  could  be ! 

The  Liscombs  had  very  few  glimpses  of  the 
royal  family  before  leaving  Rome.  They  visited 
Naples,  Sorrento,  Pompeii,  and  returned  to 
Rome  for  one  more  day.  This  was  the  time  they 
really  saw  the  king  to  any  advantage,  and  that 
was  but  a  hasty  sight  of  him.  The  orange  and 
lemon  groves  they  passed,  on  this  trip,  reminded 
them  of  their  own  beautiful  fields  of  tobacco  and 
cotton  and  corn.  They  longed  for  the  shade  of 
their  fine  oaks. 

Their  plantation  lay  in  the  least  ruined  district 
of  the  South.  Cousin  Jonas  Wilson  had  acted  as 
agent  for  them  in  their  absence.  At  one  time  he 
had  feared  that  the  land  might  be  confiscated 
under  a  short  lived  proclamation  that  took  in  the 
property  of  any  one  "harboring  a  rebel,"  but, 
by  some  feat  of  cleverness  of  Mr.  Jonas  or  some 


Ii6  IRENE   LISCOMB 

oversight  of  magistrate  he  had  kept  the  land  in- 
tact for  the  owners. 

Letters  and  papers  were  found  at  Rome  when 
they  returned.  They  gleaned  from  them  that 
the  assassin  of  the  President  had  been  shot,  and 
that  everybody  was  alert  to  know  how  the  Vice- 
President,  now  come  into  the  higher  office,  would 
direct  affairs,  but  he  walked  under  a  cloud  from 
the  hour  of  his  taking  the  oath  of  office  till  the 
end  of  it. 

Later  on,  the  South  was  put  under  Military 
Rule,  until  affairs  could  be  shaped  up  from  the 
turmoil  and  confusion  that  had  overwhelmed 
them. 

Going  from  Rome  again,  the  family  stopped  at 
Naples  for  a  few  days.  They  were  in  sight  yet 
of  Vesuvius,  but  did  not  care  to  join  the  excur- 
sion to  the  crater.  They  went  into  churches, 
museums  and  palace.  One  beautiful  day  an  ex- 
cursion was  made  over  the  waters  of  the  bay 
past  the  Blue  Grotto  to  Capri.  The  younger  of 
them  rode  about  the  romantic  hills  of  the  place 
upon  the  backs  of  large  mules,  which  were  led 
by  their  guides. 

Thence  they  went  on  to  Pisa ;  were  in  the  Ca- 
thedral, the  Baptistry,  and  the  younger  ones 
climbed  the  steps  of  the  leaning  tower;  made 
leaning  perhaps  by  a  spring  of  water  that  had 
burst  from  under  it.  Most  of  the  old  and  fa- 
mous sculptors  were  there  represented  by  statues 
about  the  tower.  Here  they  bought  a  beautiful 
Parian  marble  tower  to  send  Annie  Miller,  and 
also  of  the  Cathedral  and  Baptistry,  as  wedding 
gift.  They  saw  the  swinging  lamp  that  sug- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  117 

gested  to  Galileo  his  great  discovery  of  the  Pen- 
dulum, from  a  slight  and  constant  movement  of 
it. 

Returning,  they  passed  a  famous  shrine,  con- 
taining one  of  the  noted  Madonnas ;  stopped  for 
a  few  minutes  to  see  this  "The  Madonna  of  the 
Thorn." 

Resting  a  few  days,  they  traveled  on  to  Milan, 
where  they  were  soon  engaged  in  visiting 
churches,  parks  and  the  Grand  Passage  called 
Galleria  Vittorio  Emanuele.  The  beautiful  mar- 
ble Gothic  church  or  cathedral  begun  in  1386  is 
a  delicate  and  wonderful  work,  and  has  hun- 
dreds of  statues  about  its  imposing  structure. 
Its  numerous  spires  glitter  like  snow  in  the  sun, 
and  one  hears  there  the  most  impressive  music, 
and  its  answering  responses  echoing  from  cap- 
ital to  capital  of  its  lofty  columns. 

They  called  upon  an  American  acquaintance 
who  was  studying  at  the  Conservatory  of  Music, 
and  heard  her  play,  by  invitation,  at  a  private 
musicale. 

They  visited  the  principal  park  and  cemetery 
of  Milan.  Visited  the  great  opera  house  one 
afternoon.  No  important  musical  or  theatrical 
event  was  due  during  the  few  days  they  re- 
mained in  the  beautiful  city;  only  open  air  con- 
certs. 

They  heard  more  Italian  spoken  here  than 
they  had  heard  elsewhere,  and  revelled  in  its 
long,  musical  drawl  on  the  latter  part  of  words.! 
Alice  had  an  ear  for  languages,  as  Ned  had  for 
music,  and  was  always  wishing  she  could  have 
studied  several,  and  especially  Italian. 


n8  IRENE  LISCOMB 

Mrs.  Liscomb  said  one  day  when  she  heard 
her  enthuse  over  Italian : 

"I  studied  French  and  German  a  while  at 
school ;  know  English  fairly,  but  was  in  a  situa- 
tion once,  in  the  Northwest,  where  I  thought  I 
would  give  the  whole  accomplishment  for  a 
knowledge  of  an  Indian  language  that  my  tem- 
porary servant  spoke;  and  it  is  always  so.  One 
never  knows  enough." 

Alice  said:  "I  never  knew  that  you  all  had 
lived  in  the  Northwest." 

"My  family  did  not.  I  went  West  to  visit  a 
niece  and  to  improve  my  health,  for  I  had  been 
ill.  While  I  was  there,  this  relative  was  seized 
with  a  serious  illness.  Her  servant  left  her. 
They  always  leave  one,  if  it  is  house-cleaning 
time  of  the  year,  or  if  there  is  sickness  in  the 
family,  you  know.  Well,  I  hired  an  Indian 
woman  to  do  the  things  I  could  not.  That  is  the 
time  I  desired  so  ardently  to  know  her  lan- 
guage." 

Nancy  and  I  got  on  very  well.  When  she  did 
not  want  to  do  certain  things  she  simply  van- 
ished till  next  day,  so  there  was  no  contention. 
It  may  be  she  said  a  lot  of  naughty  things  as  she 
trotted  along  to  her  tepee  in  the  pines  over  the 
river.  I  thought  same. 

They  all  laughed  and  Alice  asked  if  that  In- 
dian language  was  harsh  and  gutteral.  The 
mother-in-law  did  not  know;  she  had  not  heard 
much  of  it.  She  said,  though,  in  pursuing  the 
subject  of  the  West  still  further: 

"That  is  a  journey  I  want  you  and  Ned  to 
make  some  time.  Only  the  scenery  of  Austria 


IRENE   LISCOMB  119 

and  the  Alps  can  compare  with  our  Northwest.' 
The  Alps  are  more  awful,  of  course."  I 

The  tourists'  next  stop  was  at  Bellagio,  where 
the  two  arms,  Lecco  and  Como,  meet.  Lake 
Como  is  considered  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
Italian  group.  It  is  thirty  miles  long,  and  at  its 
greatest  width  is  three  miles  wide. 

Its  shores  are  studded  with  charming  villas 
and  villages  with  a  background  of  forests  and 
mountains.  At  the  hotel  they  met  English  tour- 
ists and  some  American  "globe  trotters,"  as  the 
English  term  extensive  travelers.  They  also  say 
"Trippers." 

A  string  band  rendered  lovely  music  on  the 
piazza.,  in  their  enchanting,  impassioned  manner. 
Passing  up  and  down  before  the  hotel  were  gaily 
illuminated  boats,  thronged  with  jolly  people, 
making  an  evening  to  be  remembered. 

Here  they  remained  some  days,  boating  some- 
times during  the  morning.  On  one  of  these  e^> 
cursions  they  stopped  at  a  beautiful  villa,  with 
lovely  grounds  to  view  Canova's  Cupid  and 
Psyche.  This  piece  of  sculpture  is  considered 
the  sculptor's  masterpiece,  and  is  indescribable. 

Reviving  a  little  from  the  surprise  that  they 
experienced  in  seeing  this  work,  the  eyes  fall 
upon  another  work  of  high  art  appropriately 
near  by.  After  appreciating  the  first,  if  one  can 
come  down  to  earth  and  understand  this  mar- 
ble, Magdalene,  one  sees  a  kneeling  figure  with 
lowered  head,  and  empty  hands  dropped  in  an 
attitude  of  utter  despair  at  her  sides,  while  her 
eyes  gaze  most  regretfully  upon  the  Skeleton  of 
the  Past — a  skull  on  the  ground  near  by. 


I2O  IRENE   LISCOMB 

Commenting  upon  what  they  had  seen  that 
morning,  the  tourists  felt  themselves  indeed  too 
incompetent  to  express  what  they  felt. 

They  were  really  too  provincial  in  education 
and  experiences  to  know  what  they  thought  of 
this  art  in  marble,  that  expressed  sublimity  and 
humility  in  a  way  that  word  painting,  in  poetry 
or  prose,  could  only  degrade. 

They  had  already  bought  a  small  duplicate  of 
Cupid  and  Psyche  in  a  studio,  or  the  salesrooms 
rather,  of  a  noted  sculptor  in  Rome.  It  was  to 
be  sent  along  with  the  Leaning  Tower,  Church 
and  Baptistry  of  Pisa,  to  Annie  Miller,  as  wed- 
ding gifts  from  the  Liscombs.  Annie  could  not 
make  a  tour  of  the  South  of  Europe,  since  she 
had  chosen  marriage. 

Rather  reluctantly  the  family  left  Bellagio,  to 
continue  their  travels  towards  Lugano.  There 
they  stopped  at  another  hotel  overlooking  the 
waters  of  a  lake,  and  remained  one  day  in  the 
delightful  hostelry.  Then  they  passed  on  through 
most  charming  places,  till  they  entered  the  St. 
Gothard  Tunnel,  nine  and  over  a  quarter  miles 
long,  which  is  one  and  a  half  miles  longer  than 
the  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel. 

The  St.  Gothard  is  nearly  one  thousand  feet 
below  Andermatt,  and  five  to  six  thousand  five 
hundred  feet  below  the  peaks  of  the  St.  Gothard. 
Louis  Faure  of  Geneva  was  the  contractor,  but 
died  before  it  was  completed. 

The  sensations  were  grewsome,  as  they  slowly 
rode  through  this  dark,  underground  road! 

The  ravishing  beauties  of  Italy  and  its  sensu- 
ous music  were  now  over,  and  the  rugged  land- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  121 

scapes  of  the  Alps  and  Switzerland  were  taking 
their  places.  Switzerland  indeed !  which  is  some- 
times German,  and  again  quite  French,  and 
South,  very  Italian.  Back  in  the  interior  alone 
is  the  country  Swiss,  speaking  its  own  language. 

By  the  mountain  railway,  they  ascended  to  the 
summit  of  the  Righi.  Looking  from  the  car 
window  one  has  the  sensation  of  being  sus- 
pended in  midair  over  a  boundless  and  bottom- 
less space.  Some  people  cannot  look  out  at  all. 
At  the  hotel  here,  they  passed  one  chilly  night 
to  see  the  sunrise  over  the  three  hundred  miles 
scenery  of  the  surrounding  view. 

From  the  Righi,  the  party  descended  to  Vitz- 
nan,  where  they  took  a  steamer  for  Lucerne, 
amid  the  most  magnificent  scenery  of  Switzer- 
land, and  sailed  over  Lake  Lucerne.  At  a  com- 
fortable hotel  here  they  rested  a  few  days, 
meantime  visiting  the  Arsenal,  the  quaint  old 
bridges,  to  see  their  curious  frescoes;  saw  the 
old  Roman  watch  tower.  One  day  at  sunset  they 
sat  in  the  Cathedral  to  hear  the  sublime  music 
always  rendered  at  this  hour,  when  dreamy  twi- 
light approaches. 

They  stood  long  before  Thornwaldsen's  Lion, 
the  sad  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  fine 
Swiss  Guards  who  died  defending  the  palace  of 
the  Tuileries  at  Paris,  a  hundred  years  before. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  appropriate 
than  this  great  lion,  pierced  through  by  a  spear, 
as  a  commemoration  of  the  fine,  strong  men  who 
died  that  day.  Small  duplicates  in  stone  and  in 
marble  were  sold.  The  Liscombs,  of  course,  took 
one,  carved  out  of  wood.  This  monument  was 


122  IRENE   LISCOMB 

chiselled  on  the  face  of  the  natural  walls  of  a 
grotto,  and  the  names  of  the  fallen  heroes  were 
all  cut  below.  Photographs  of  it  are  sold  every- 
where. 

In  a  place  near  by  was  the  model  in  marble, 
made  from  the  clay  one  Thorwaldsen  had  mod- 
eled. 

The  Glacier  Gardens  were  visited,  and  again 
the  Cathedral.  Resting,  receiving  and  answer- 
ing letters  occupied  a  part  of  the  time  here,  beT 
fore  they  took  the  boat  to  Alpnacht ;  thence  over 
the  Brunig  Pass  to  Interlacken. 

This  delightful  resort,  between  the  two  lakes, 
and  surrounded  by  mountains,  always  has  its  ho- 
tels and  pensions  filled  with  travelers  from  many 
parts  of  the  world  in  summer.  It  might  be 
termed  the  Saratoga  of  Switzerland,  only  for  its 
quiet. 

A  few  days  here,  including  a  Sunday,  the  most 
quiet  one  ever  experienced,  and  the  Liscombs 
felt  greatly  rested  and  refreshed.  The  shops 
were  filled  with  Swiss  wood  carvings  and  poetic 
souvenirs  of  the  mountains.  Photographs  and 
Eidelweiss  were  easily  carried,  so  these  made  up 
the  principal  purchases,  aside  from  very  neces- 
sary toilet  articles. 

Walks  were  taken  to  picturesque  points  on  the 
Lakes. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  123 


XIV. 

THE  AMERICAN  STUDENTS. 

Rene  desired  to  remain  in  Dresden  as  long  as 
possible.  The  summer  had  been  passed  in  sight- 
seeing, and  in  sketching  tours,  and  excursions 
in  Germany,  with  her  class. 

She  had  visited  an  International  Exposition  of 
Oil  Paintings,  at  which  the  American  represen- 
tation caused  her  chagrin,  because  of  the  piti- 
fully few  paintings  sent  by  American  pupils 
from  Paris  and  London,  and  these  did  not  rep- 
resent the  best  of  her  country's  art.  She  was 
astonished  that  they  had  been  accepted  at  all, 
unless  it  was  to  put  the  nation  into  ridicule  be- 
fore more  advanced  countries. 

Rene  had  indeed  been  busy.  She  had  taken 
lessons  in  voice  culture;  lessons  in  painting  and 
lessons  in  German,  both  in  grammar  and  in  read- 
ing; conversation  was  always  at  hand,  at  two 
meals  a  day,  in  the  pension  where  she  lived  with 
the  girl  friends. 

Musical  entertainments  had  been  lavishly  in- 
dulged in,  for  their  merits  in  entertaining  and 
their  usefulness  to  the  students.  Rene  found  it 
better  for  her  to  be  always  occupied ;  in  fact,  she 
liked  to  be  hurried  every  moment,  so  that  she 
could  have  no  time  at  all  to  reflect — to  be  stu- 


124  IRENE  LISCOMB 

pidly  thinking — thinking  over  a  sickening  past. 
She  did  not  grieve  and  sorrow  so  much  now.  A 
healthy  hate  was  not  hurtful,  and  was  fast  steal- 
ing into  her  sorely  wounded  soul.  Pride  was 
taking  the  place  of  the  old  love  in  her  heart,  and 
bracing  it  up,  she  hoped,  to  final  forgetfulness  of 
the  original  sting  and  humiliating  disappoint- 
ment. 

In  a  short  time  her  parents  would  expect  her 
to  meet  them  in  Paris.  As  most  of  the  others 
of  the  group  would  be  returning  home  in  a  few 
weeks  or  months,  she  was  reconciled  to  the 
change.  It  was  because  the  war  had  ended  and 
families  of  the  South  began  to  look  up  the 
strayed  ones,  to  unite  in  making  up,  once  more, 
the  broken  home.  In  fact,  the  most  of  them 
were  badly  pressed  for  means. 

The  students  expected  to  find  places  to  teach 
whatever  each  one  had  best  fitted  herself  for. 
Rene  hurried  to  accomplish  certain  tasks  she  had 
tyrannically  set  out  for  herself  before  she  should 
go  out  of  reach  of  teachers  she  so  much  liked. 

It  was  a  little  strange,  that  of  all  the  jolly 
quintet  of  girls,  Rene  had  attracted  most  par- 
ticularly the  attention  of  an  employe  of  a  bank- 
ing concern  in  the  city.  He  had  met  her  at  mu- 
sicales  and  at  the  "Cercles"  at  Frau  Professor 
Temple's,  whenever  any  gentlemen  at  all  were 
admitted,  being  a  relative  of  the  Professor. 

At  these  delightful  club  evenings,  each  pupil 
might  bring  one  or  two  of  her  acquaintances  to 
hear  a  short  lecture  or  conversation  in  English, 
French  or  German,  as  occasion  had  appointed. 
The  young  relative  was  learning  English. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  125 

After  the  lecture  there  was  a  little  social  en- 
joyment of  an  ice,  some  music  and  a  short  dance. 
The  young  man  was  rather  sentimental,  and, 
perhaps,  in  love,  in  a  temperate  degree,  but  he 
had  the  usual  European  desire  to  attach  himself 
to  a  "rich  American"  female  if  he  could  manage 
it ;  and  the  way  a  respectable  young  or  other  Ger- 
man usually  did  manage  it,  was  by  the  assist- 
ance of  an  elderly  feminine  friend,  if  he  had  one. 

Frau  Professor  gradually  let  Rene  understand 
the  preference  her  relative  had  expressed  for 
her.  Not  being  directly  discouraged,  the  amia- 
ble elderly  teacher  proposed  marriage  between 
Rene  and  the  grave  young  banker. 

Rene  was  quite  startled,  somewhat  like  a  really 
married  woman  might  have  been  at  a  declaration 
of  love  from  some  friend  of  her  husband's;  for 
she  had  scrupulously  repelled  any  advance  of 
gentlemen  as  faithfully  as  if  she  had  indeed  been 
wedded  to  Budd  Stone. 

Confused  and  agitated,  she  gasped  out:  ' 

"Frau  Professor  Tempel,  ich  bin  shon  verlobt; 
mit  einem  Americaner !" 

She  could  not  have  said  it  in  English,  so  she 
had  told  the  teacher  in  German.  It  did  not  seem 
so  bold.  "I  am  already  betrothed  to  an  Ameri- 
can." 

Then  also  in  German,  Frau  Professor  ex~ 
claimed  with  some  emotion, 

"Mein  Gott;  Fraulein  Liscomb,  ich  bedaure  es 
sehrl  Mein  Neffe  ist  in  sie  so  sehr  verliebt!" 

Luckily  the  entrance  of  an  expected  pupil  put 
an  end  to  the  disagreeable  situation.  Rene  was 


126  IRENE   LISCOMB 

considerate  enough  to  keep  the  matter  a  secret 
from  the  other  careless,  joyous  four  friends. 

The  very  hospitable  Frau  Professor  regretted 
her  failure  in  securing  the  "rich  American,"  for 
the  young  employe  of  the  bank,  for  more  than 
one  reason.  If  she  had  got  the  girl  for  his  wife, 
she  would  have  found  added  to  her  deposits  at 
that  bank  several  hundred  marks  more  than  her 
hard  worked  mind  had  remembered  placing 
there.  She  knew  many  cases  of  this  sort.  One 
lady  in  Berlin,  whom  she  very  well  knew,  had  a 
beautiful,  rich  black  silk  dress  sent  her  from  a 
happy  lad  she  had  managed  to  make  happier. 
Then  she  could  have  told  you  the  very  number 
and  street  of  an  aristocratic  Pension  from  which 
Count  So  and  So  had  won  his  rich  American 
wife;  and  to  whom  he  had  sent  an  honorarium, 
and  that  was  to  this  highly  honored  boarding 
house  mistress ;  of  many  hundred  marks  so  soon 
as  he  got  his  aspiring  American  wife's  money 
into  his  possession. 

The  American  girl  is  undoubtedly  the  clever- 
est, the  sprightliest,  the  prettiest,  generally 
speaking,  of  all  the  women  of  the  world,  but 
very  many  are  tricked  into  marriage  for  the  for- 
tune they  can  furnish,  and  seldom,  for  anything 
else  of  all  their  glorious  graces  and  bewitching 
charms. 

!  Rene  had  none  of  that  blind  worshipful  long- 
ing to  become  a  countess  or  baroness,  she  had 
heard  so  much  speculative  conversation  about, 
nor  yet  the  desire  to  turn  over  her  bank  account 
to  the  cashier  of  some  foreign  concern  at  pres- 
ent. 


IRENE  LISCOMB  127 

The  relative  of  Frau  and  Herr  Professor 
Tempel  joined  some  others  on  an  excursion  upon 
the  Rhine,  politely  sending  picture  postals  to 
each  of  the  five  students  during  his  tour.  After 
his  return,  he  was  usually  too  much  occupied  to 
pursue  his  English  studies  with  "Liebe  Tante" 
for  some  time,  so  Rene  was  spared  the  pain  of 
meeting  him  again  face  to  face.  The  others  of 
the  industrious  quintet  missed  him. 

After  some  private  rehearsals  the  girls  had 
learned  to  make  the  awkward  curtsy  that  is  done 
always  before  European  Royalty,  without  tum- 
bling into  a  humiliating  heap.  They  had  seen  a 
subject  of  his  Majesty,  the  Emperor,  fall  when 
making  her  curtsy  to  him  as  his  carriage  passed 
her  on  a  bridge.  They  really  never  intended  to 
curtsy  in  public,  but  found  a  lot  of  fun  in  imi- 
tating this  greeting. 

That  is  what  they  said,  but  Rene  declared/ that 
they  all  curtsied  fine  one  day  in  Berlin  when  the 
Emperor  passed  them. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  they  curtsied  often  to  each 
other  to  keep  in  practice.  They  often  found 
themselves  "sober  enough,"  as  they  termed  their 
hours  of  reflection,  to  deeply  regret  their  future 
and  early  separation. 

These  students  had  gone,  occasionally,  to  copy 
in  the  galleries,  or  to  study  coloring,  or  to  study 
technique,  according  to  the  particular  need  the 
teacher  had  discovered  in  them.  This  time  they 
had  brought  finished  pictures  to  compare  with 
the  originals,  or  as  one  girl  put  it,  "to  daub  out 
their  last  corrections,  and  replace  them  with 
worse  faults." 


128  IRENE   LISCOMB 

They  reviewed  their  many  favorites,  taking  a 
long,  lingering  good-bye  of  them,  for  they 
should  see  no  more  of  them  soon.  They  prob- 
ably saw  certain  uncanny  ones  that  they  had  gen- 
erally passed  hurriedly  by,  with  more  interest 
and  charity,  than  they  would  have  acknowledged 
to  one  another. 

The  next  shopping  place  of  the  Liscombs  was 
at  Geneva,  beautifully  situated  at  the  foot  of 
Lake  Lehman,  or  the  Lake  of  Geneva;  the 
largest  and  one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  the 
Swiss  lakes.  It  lies  in  the  midst  of  the  grandest 
Alpine  scenery,  with  the  loftiest  peak  of  all, 
Mont  Blanc,  in  plain  view. 

It  is  said  that  of  the  fifty  thousand  inhabitants 
there  are  two  hundred  millionaires,  and  it  is 
often  called  the  city  of  millionaires.  Calvin 
preached  and  lived  here.  For  twenty-eight  years 
he  preached  in  its  old  cathedral.  This  is  the  first 
place  our  tourists  visited.  The  next  place  was 
the  Russian  Church  with  its  round  domes.  They 
went  into  the  Public  Library,  founded  by  Bon- 
nivard,  to  the  Universities,  Gardens  or  Parks,  to 
Rossian's  Park  and  Garden,  to  the  City  Hall. 
Saw  the  National  Monument  and  the  Meeting 
of  Waters.  Rested  a  few  days,  then  proceeded 
through  the  Mont  Blanc  region  for  fifty  miles 
by  carriage,  resting  sometimes  for  a  few  hours; 
once  stopping  over  night,  after  they  had  just 
passed  through  the  deep  grass  of  an  English 
walnut  grove.  It  was  about  the  loneliest  spot 
they  had  ever  passed  through.  One  of  their 
drivers  wore  ear  rings,  which  added  to  the  gen- 
eral foreign  atmosphere  and  odd  picturesqueness 


IRENE   LISCOMB 

of  the  surroundings.  The  wonderfully  made 
mountain  roads  throughout  Europe,  and  these 
likewise,  were  greatly  admired. 

They  found  themselves  soon  afterwards  at 
Chamouni.  Now  they  are  still  nearer  Mont 
Blanc,  this  Monarch  of  the  Alps,  in  whose  vi- 
cinity are  large  ice  cataracts.  They  rode  mules 
over  the  magnificent  mountain  roads  to  the  Mer 
de  Glace.  Then  on  foot,  with  guides,  crossed 
this  sea  of  ice,  well  gravelled  over  by  the  ages 
to  the  Mauvais  Pas. 

Once  they  had  crossed  the  deep  cracks  or 
crevasses  of  the  sea  of  ice,  and  had  got  upon  the 
Mauvais  Pas,  there  was  no  turning  back,  and  to 
look  down  was  threatening  death.  It  was  one  of 
the  most  novel  and  the  most  dangerous  of  all 
their  lifetime  experiences.  This  path  is  less /than 
five  inches  wide,  on  the  almost  straight  wall  of 
rock,  with  steps  slanting,  and  hardly  deep  enough 
for  the  toe  of  one's  shoe  to  catch  on.  Only  for 
a  rod  of  iron  along  and  close  to  this  rock  wall, 
no  human  could  get  over  it.  If  one  of  the  loops, 
which  holds  it  to  place,  should  be  pulled  out,  it  is 
rather  certain  that  the  victim  on  the  path  would 
be  dashed  to  death  below  upon  the  Mer  de  Glace. 

It  was  hard  for  the  elderly  couple  to  believe 
they  had  ventured  to  risk  their  lives  in  making 
the  trip,  when  they  got  to  the  hotel  and  talked 
it  over.  The  excitement  of  the  thrilling  experi- 
ence was  with  them  for  days,  and  they  said  the}* 
would  never  say  again  "Fools!"  as  they  often 
had  when  reading  of  some  death  in  Alpine  ad- 
ventures, for  they  now  understood  the  luring 
fascination. 


IRENE  LISCOMB 

Not  long  afterwards,  however,  their  carriages 
were  creeping  along  through  the  Vale  of  Cha- 
mouni,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  by  the 
Tete  Noir  Pass.  The  horses  were  breathing  so 
hard  that  they  all  got  out  of  the  diligence,  and 
tried  to  walk  sometimes.  It  was  not  for  long 
distances  at  all.  They  would  be  so  short  of 
breath  themselves  that  they  were  glad  to  get 
back  into  the  wagon,  and  the  horses  were  given 
a  few  minutes  breathing  time,  the  great  brake  of 
the  wagon  sufficing  to  hold  it  still  on  the  steep, 
but  fine  road. 

They  were  in  sight  of  several  glaciers  at  the 
highest  point,  which  is  6,595  feet  high.  A  couple 
of  days  to  rest  again  was  decided  upon  when 
they  arrived  at  Martigny.  Here  they  wrote  let- 
ters home  which  they  would  mail  at  some  less 
remote  point. 

As  they  traveled  on  to  Lausanne,  they  stopped 
over  to  visit  the  historic  Castle  of  Chillon,  which 
Byron  made  still  more  famous  by  his  poem.  Be- 
fore entering  the  building  even,  they  were  look- 
ing up  the  "Three  Dents,"  the  three  points  of 
the  mountains  overlooking  it,  mentioned  by  the 
poet  as  he  begins,  "O,  say,  have  you  seen  them?" 

From  the  lower  dungeon  they  looked  out  of 
the  narrow  slit  in  the  very  thick  wall  upon  "the 
isle  of  the  three  trees"  that  the  eyes  of  the  great 
prisoner  Bonnivard  had  so  often  looked  upon. 
Certainly  not  the  same  trees.  They  were  too 
young,  but  the  same  number,  and  the  same  isle, 
perhaps,  to  keep  pace  with  the  poem  of  the  er- 
ratic English  poet. 

The  base  of  the  stone  column  to  which  he  was 


IRENE  LISCOMB  131 

chained  showed  the  unmistakable  wear  of  his 
fetters  as  the  restless  revolutionist  moved  back 
and  forth  around  it.  An  immense  open  fireplace 
in  one  of  the  apartments  had  probably  furnished 
whatever  of  warmth  he  ever  had  in  the  cold, 
damp  place.  The  Castle  has  its  foundation  on 
this  side,  deep  down  in  the  water. 

They  were  not  shown  the  oubliette.  It  was 
on  Sunday  that  the  tourists  arrived  in  Lausanne : 
went  into  a  Catholic  Church  in  the  morning,  and 
toured  about  the  parks  in  the  afternoon.  Then, 
in  the  evening  of  the  restful,  quiet  and  exquis- 
itely mild  autumn  day,  they  started  on  towards 
Paris,  the  city  of  their  many  exaggerated 
dreams:  the  city  of  moods  and  remarkable 
phases ;  of  tragedies  and  pleasures. 

The  Liscombs  settled  in  a  very  centrally  lo- 
cated hotel,  the  Dominici,  until  they  might  fiird  a 
family  pension  where  they  could  live  for  some 
weeks.  Letters  awaited  them;  one  not  alto- 
gether agreeable  throughout.  It  was  from  An- 
nie Miller.  She  was  very  happily  married  to 
Second  Lieutenant  Joseph  Wood. 

"Yes,  he  had  a  brother,  Sergeant  Henry 
Wood.  He  was  fighting  with  his  Volunteer  In- 
fantry Regiment,  and  was  killed  at  Chickamauga 
Creek.  She  and  Joseph  would  tour  New  York 
City,  and  then  would  start  for  the  Northwest. 
She  was  very  enthusiastic  about  young  people 
going  West,  believing  Joseph  would  soon  find 
good  luck,  backing  up  his  fine  plans  for  the 
future.  But  let  me  tell  you  about  the  dear  ruined 
Southland.  Negroes  are  now  voting  there. 
Some  of  them  hold  offices  in  the  county.  Think 


132  IRENE   LISCOMB 

of  asking  a  nigger  for  your  mail  at  the  post  office 
and  of  giving  them  the  sidewalk  you've  always 
expected  them  to  give  you  in  passing !  They  are 
dressed  up  as  policemen,  arresting  even  white 
people !  Carpet  baggers  and  niggers  are  trying 
to  rule  down  there.  Think  of  our  once  proud 
South!  Shooting  is  as  common  as  it  was  when 
we  all  deserted  it.  You  all  will  not  want  to  come 
home  yet.  Don't  do  it,  I  beg  you." 

"Nonsense!"  said  Ned.  "We  will  rule  our 
States  ourselves!  The  North  has  yet  to  learn 
that  ours  is  no  nigger  government." 


IRENE   LISCOMB  133 


XV. 

THE  FOURTEENTH  AMENDMENT. 

"Ah,  Ned,  there  will  be  trouble  for  a  long 
time!  Curse  the  luck  that  brought  about  the 
war!"  said  Major  Liscomb. 

"The  old  gentleman  is  threatened  with  one  of 
his  younger-day  fits  of  wrath,"  said  his  wife,  in 
an  undertone  to  the  daughter-in-law. 

"And  I  don't  intend  to  go  home  yet!"  he 
added,  his  face  very  red. 

"If  I  should  go  home  now,  I'm  sure  I  should 
join  that  'shot  gun  corps'  the  papers  are  telling 
about  being  at  all  the  voting  precincts.  I  wanted 
to  go  into  politics,  but  from  such  a  shameful 
mess  of  carpetbaggers  and  niggers,  I  say  'Good 
Lord,  deliver  me!'  We  will  not  go  home  this 
fall!"  said  Ned.  "The  Fourteenth  Amendment! 
No  wonder  so  many  of  the  States  can't  get  back 
in  the  Union!  I  admire  them  for  not  ratifying 
that  insulting  thing  to  the  South !" 

"But,  son,  they  will  ratify  it.  They  cannot 
put  the  negro  back  into  slavery,  and  since  he 
must  have  equality,  in  most  things  before  the 
law,  why — why — that  amendment  is  about  the 
best  they  can  do.  Can't  you  see  it  that  way? 
They  must  saddle  citizenship  on  him  and  pre- 
pare him  for  his  future.  Don't  you  see  ?" 


134  IRENE   LISCOMB 

"See  it?  Well,  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  shall  ever 
see  it  that  way !  Never  mind !  In  a  little  while, 
the  South  will  come  out  of  her  benumbed  sleep, 
and  through  a  bit  of  manouvering,  she  will,  in 
her  State's  legislation,  so  hamper  this  new  citi- 
zen that  an  almighty  few  will  vote  many  times. 
Do  you  take  the  hint  ?  Do  you  see  ?  And  I  can- 
not always  be  forbidden  a  vote,  because  I  bore 
arms  against  the  U.  S.  Government.  Some  of 
the  whites  now  debarred  this  privilege  that  the 
nigger  has  been  given,  will  devise  better  than 
the  North  can  foresee,  and  get  the  South  under 
their  own  control.  Can't  you  see?"  asked  Ned. 

"I  see,  yes,  I  see,  and  think  all  things  will 
come  out  right  in  the  long  run,  but  the  race  will 
be  a  hot  one!" 

Ned  arose  and  went  from  the  room  into  the 
street  for  a  walk.  He  generally  got  into  a  pas- 
sion when  discussing  these  things. 

Ned's  walk  had  quieted  his  temper,  and  when 
he  met  his  wife  again  he  did  not  allude  to  any- 
thing that  had  passed  between  him  and  his 
father. 

"Well,  Alice  dear,  it  is  very  clear  that  Henry 
Wood  was  the  boy  whose  acquaintance  I  made 
that  day  on  the  field  at  Chickamauga  Creek. 

"If  he  had  a  lucid  thought  before  he  gave  up 
his  soul,  I  believe  it  was  a  vision  of  me,  the  sol- 
dier he  had  just  seen  dying  from  the  gunshot 
he  had  just  dealt  him!" 

"O,  Ned!  how  strange  that  you  could  specu- 
late on  what  a  dying  soldier  thought !  It  is  said 
that  most  all  of  them  never  know  thev  have  been 


IRENE   LISCOMB  135 

hit  at  all,  and  I  hope  Cousin  Henry  did  not,  nor 
had  to  suffer  long." 

"Yes,  it  is  said  that  in  the  excitement  of  battle 
the  fatally  wounded  are  unconscious  or  deliri- 
ous." 

"Well,  if  it  is  true,  it  is  a  fortunate  condi- 
tion. I  had  such  a  tremendous  fear  of  being 
run  over  as  I  fell.  I  think  I  was  unconscious  till 
the  boy  raised  my  head  to  let  me  drink  out  of  the 
canteen.  Then  I  looked  at  him  and  saw  he  was 
the  same  person  that  had  shot  me." 

"Let  us  forget  it  and  forgive  it!" 

"I've  nothing  to  forgive.  It  was  a  fair  fight, 
and  really  dying  was  about  the  easiest  side  of 
it.  Remember  how  I  have  suffered,  and  how 
much  trouble  I  have  caused  all  my  relatives,  and 
how  very  much  money  it  has  cost  my  father! 
Alice,  I  will  never  vex  him  again.  He  is  just  as 
honest  in  his  views  of  right  and  wrong  as  I  am. 
He  did  not  want  a  war,  and  that  is  just  about  all 
he  ever  did  do  or  say  against  it.  It  is  a  pity  any 
of  us  ever  wanted  it.  I  see  it  now.  But  who 
could  see  it  when  full  of  wrath  and  ambition? 
I've  partly  paid  for  my  folly  and  the  conse- 
quences will  pursue  me  always.  I  very  much 
aspired  to  a  high  place  in  politics,  which  I  shall 
have  to  give  up  for  a  business  career." 

"Father,  don't  you  need  me  to  assist  you  in 
making  up  plans  for  the  plantation  house? 
Cousin  Jonas  Wilson  writes  that  everything 
goes  so  slow  in  building  that  it  is  well  to  begin  in 
time  to  contract  for  the  material,  and  wants  to 
know  when  you'll  be  home  to  superintend  the 
building." 


136  IRENE   LISCOMB 

"Yes,  indeed.  I  shall  be  glad  of  your  opin- 
ions and  plan,  for  you  and  Alice  are  to  be  mem- 
bers of  our  household  whenever  and  however 
you  may  desire.  We  only  wish  it  might  be  for 
all  time,  but  make  it  for  long,  or  for  any  time 
that  suits  you;  your  rooms  will  always  be  your 
rooms." 

"Rene  writes  as  if  she  will  be  satisfied  to  live 
there  so  long  as  we  live.  That  is  a  great  com- 
fort to  us.  My  amiable  child,  Rene." 

"Well,  I  fancy  it  will  be  dull  for  her  since  this 
vast  touring  she  has  done,  but  she  can  invite 
guests. very  often — she  can  come  to  Alice  and  me 
whenever  she  needs  a  change.  We  shall  live  in 
New  York  sometimes,  and  go  very  often  to 
places  abroad  for  a  short  time,  as  I  am  trying 
to  get  a  position  with  a  cotton  company  since  I 
cannot  cut  any  figure  in  politics.  The  North 
will  put  Northern  men  into  every  place  worth  a 
fiddlestring,  rather  than  give  an  'ex-rebel'  any 
place,  you  may  be  sure." 

"Ned,  you  have  been  looking  into  affairs  fur- 
ther than  I  had  suspected.  Let  me  compliment 
you  for  your  business  head." 

"I  shall  be  at  home  with  you  a  great  deal  and 
my  wife  will  be  with  Rene  very  much." 

"I  do  hope  we  can  do  all  we  expect,  but  don't 
let  anybody  dig  the  foundation  out  till  we  get 
there.  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  all  that  sil- 
verware and  bric-a-brac  might  have  been  saved 
by  all  the  debris  that  happened  to  tumble  exactly 
into  the  little  wine  cellar  where  we  had  stored 
it,  and  covered  so  handsomely  with  Mammy 


IRENE   LISCOMB  137 

Nance's  ashes  and  scrap  heap.  Do  you  hear  me, 
father?"  said  Mrs.  Liscomb. 

"How  did  you  happen  to  be  thinking  of  that? 
I  was  thinking  of  that  very  thing  to-night,"  said 
Major  Liscomb. 

"I  have  more  news  for  you,"  said  Ned. 
"Cousin  Jonas  wrote  me  weeks  ago,  and  I  for- 
got to  tell  you  that  the  incendiary  gang  car- 
ried out  many  of  the  pictures  and  furniture  from 
the  house,  'toted'  them  to  old  Ben's  cabin,  in- 
tending to  get  them,  but  the  army  soldiers  ran 
them  out  of  the  country  before  they  came  back 
for  them.  They  have  been  locked  up  there  ever 
since,  and  Cousin  Jonas  built  plank  screens  be- 
fore the  windows  and  doors,  so  that  he  believes 
you've  already  some  things  to  put  into  a  couple 
of  rooms  of  the  new  house." 

"God  bless  the  man!  A  friend  in  need  is  a 
friend  indeed !  Wife,  let's  take  him  some  of  our 
later  collections !" 

Rene  arrived  much  improved  in  body  and 
mind,  as  one  could  see  at  a  glance.  Her  blond 
beauty  was  at  its  perfection.  They  had  so  much 
to  tell  one  another  that  would  hardly  keep  till 
to-morrow,  that  it  was  late  when  they  slept. 

The  morning  was  devoted  entirely  to  exchange 
of  experiences,  only  for  a  walk  and  smoke  that 
the  father  and  son  indulged  in  at  noonday.  It 
was  not  late  news  to  Rene  that  Annie  Miller  was 
married ;  for  before  the  wedding  Annie's  mother 
had  herself  written  Rene  begging  her  to  write, 
and  entreat  Annie  not  to  marry  Lieutenant 
Wood,  saying: 

"My  daughter  must  not  marry  the  Lieutenant. 


138  IRENE   LISCOMB 

When  he  and  a  squad  of  his  men  guarded  our 
house  that  time  before  the  mob  had  burned  your 
father's  place,  I  noticed  that  he  was  too  fond  of 
the  drinks  that  Annie's  father  served  the  boys. 
One  of  them  confessed  to  me  that  his  superior, 
Joseph,  loved  strong  drink  far  too  well." 

"I  pray  you,  dear  Miss  Rene,  use  your  influ- 
ence with  her.  I  thought  it  was  all  over  between 
them  when  we  put  ourselves  still  deeper  in  debt 
to  send  her  away.  Alas,  it  was  not !" 

"Well,  could  you  influence  her?" 

"No,  you  see  they  were  on  the  eve  of  mar- 
riage, and  she  stubbornly  went  through  with  it. 
Then  her  mother  and  father  wrote  her  that  they 
hoped  never  to  see  or  hear  from  her  again !" 

"Oh,  surely,  surely,  Rene,  do  you  believe  it?" 
asked  both  of  the  other  women. 

"Believe  it?  Annie  sent  me  the  letter,  so  I 
read  it,  and  it  is  just  as  I've  told  you.  Further- 
more, she  wrote: 

"You'll  pay  high  for  this  foolhardiness,  but  I 
don't  want  to  hear  anything  of  it!  Keep  your 
drunken  Yankee  to  yourself !" 

"That  was  too  cruel!  How  could  a  mother 
turn  against  a  daughter  like  that !  They'll  make 
up,  however,"  said  Mrs.  Liscomb.  "Of  course 
they'll  make  up." 

"I  doubt  it,"  said  Rene,  "for  Annie  wrote  me: 

"  'I  shall  never  cross  her  path — never !'  You 
know  how  stubborn  Annie  is.  So  she'll  bear  her 
misfortunes  silently.  I  know  her  well.  She'll 
die  rather  than  complain!  She  thinks  he  will 
love  her  too  well  to  throw  himself  away  for 


IRENE   LISCOMB  139 

drink.     He  has  assured  her  that  over  and  over 
again." 

"God,  help  her!  'Once  a  drunkard,  always 
a  drunkard,'  is  a  very  true  saying.  What  it  is  in 
a  man's  nature,  that  once  drink  gets  the  best  of 
him,  he  is  forever  lost,  I  cannot  understand,  but 
I  tell  you,  it  is  true,"  said  Mrs.  Liscomb. 

"One  is  hopelesssly  blind  if  she  has  not  seen 
this.  It  is  the  stupid  egotism  of  youth  that  leads 
a  girl  to  believe  she  is  to  be  her  lover's  saviour. 
I  know  of  nothing  so  miserable  in  the  whole 
course  of  life  as  this  wretched  thing,  drunken- 
ness !"  continued  the  elderly  woman. 

"Why  drink  poisons  and  paralyze  the  victim's 
faculties.  He  can't  work;  he  becomes  a  liar; 
other  characteristics  develop.  His  character 
loses  whatever  of  honesty,  or  virtue,  or  firmness 
it  ever  had.  Generally,  he  had  none  to  begin 
with.  He  is  then  only  a  heart-broken  thing; 
helplessly  doing  and  regretting — doing  and  re- 
gretting, till  he  would  commit  suicide  if  he  only 
had  a  will  strong  enough,  and  wasn't  a  coward; 
too  miserable  to  die." 

"O,  mother,  that  is  a  fine  temperance  lecture !" 
both  women  agreed.  "Poor  Annie!"  said  all. 

Our  three  ladies  and  the  two  gentlemen  tour- 
ists, guests  of  the  curious,  little,  squat  hotel,  ar- 
rayed themselves  for  a  walk  one  delightfully  cool 
morning.  Leaving  the  hotel,  they  looked  into 
the  shops  and  passed  the  Colonne  Vendome  near 
by,  meaning  to  do  some  sight-seeing  in  the  vi- 
cinity, afoot. 

They  were  chatting  and  commenting  as  they 
went  along,  on  the  childish  rage  that  had  one 


140  IRENE   LISCOMB 

time  prompted  some  communists  to  destroy  this 
wonderful  and  immense  column.  They  had  read 
how  these  had  toiled,  planned,  worked  to  upset 
and  batter  to  pieces  the  monument  with  clubs 
and  axes,  with  great  ropes;  they  had  already 
managed  to  defame  it  and  mar  its  surface.  They 
did  slightly  tilt  it  also  from  its  strong  founda- 
tion. Why  they  did  not  finish  the  demolition  no 
one  remembered  to  have  heard,  or  having  heard, 
had  forgotten. 

Thence  they  passed  into  the  Rue  des  Italiens, 
and  viewed  restaurants,  shops  and  show  places, 
now  in  the  ugly  stage  of  getting  ready  for  the 
later  day's  crowds  and  all  night's  carousals  that 
besiege  this  fashionable  rendezvous  of  represen- 
tatives from  all  nations  of  the  earth,  and  other 
places,  perhaps,  not  in  Paris  alone. 

Then  to  the  beautiful,  magnificent  opera  house 
with  its  marble  stairway  and  its  onyx  railing 
thereto.  By  a  little  inquiry  and  a  "pourbois," 
they  were  permitted  a  view  of  these  interior  or- 
naments of  the  famous  building  while  not  occu- 
pied. 

It  was  an  unusual  hour,  but  certainly  a  most 
favorable  one  in  which  to  get  a  good  look  at  the 
great  interior,  with  its  several  galleries  and  vast 
opera  boxes;  the  stage  and  the  boxes  of  the  no- 
bility, above  all;  for  the  nobility  is  ever  the 
prominent  and  dominant  of  all  things  European, 
whether  the  momentary  situation  be  Republican 
or  Monarchic,  Catholic  or  Evangelic.  Further 
along,  as  they  went  from  the  Place  de  1'Opera, 
they  read  the  words,  Charite,  Eealite,  Fraternite, 
chiseled  on  a  stone  building;  and  going  over  to 


IRENE   LISCOMB  141 

the  Rue  de  Rivoli,  they  passed  the  Tuileries 
Gardens;  saw  the  little  bit  of  wall  that  is  still 
preserved  of  the  Palais  des  Tuileries.  This  place 
was  once  a  tile  yard,  hence  the  title.  The  old 
royal  palace  was  long  since  destroyed. 

All  the  afternoon  they  lounged  and  rested. 
Furnished  with  addresses,  their  acquaintances 
had  given  them  from  time  to  time,  they  set  out 
one  day  to  find  quarters  for  the  winter  months. 
All  the  most  centrally  located  seemed  to  be  in 
that  part  of  the  city  in  which  they  now  lived ;  be- 
ing noisy  and  expensive,  then  then  examined 
others. 

Finally  they  found  comfortably  and  genteelly 
appearing  rooms  near  the  Arch  de  Triomphe. 
Took  a  dinner  there  at  eight  o'clock  and  decided 
to  live  there  the  short  three  months  before  they 
might  leave  for  London,  where  they  would  stop. 

Visiting  the  exquisite  shops  in  the  Palais 
Royal  next  morning,  they  found  a  dainty,  beauti- 
ful restaurant,  where  they  came  next  day  at  noon 
for  a  dejeuner,  or  breakfast. 

This  was  perhaps  the  last  palace  built  for 
Royalty,  who  being  financially  pressed,  made  all 
the  first  floor  of  the  palace  into  superior  shops. 
These  places  rented  for  a  goodly  sum,  and,  of 
course,  the  Americans  paid  a  surprising  price  for 
what  they  ate,  concluding  that  it  was  worth 
something  to  know  one  had  breakfasted  in  a 
really  royal  palace.  "The  royalty  was  not  at 
home  that  morning,"  Rene  said,  in  telling  of  the 
experiences,  so  they  moved  to  their  new  quar- 
ters in  a  day  or  so,  having  exhausted  sight-seeing 
in  their  first  location.  The  three  great  dry 


142  IRENE  LISCOMB 

goods  houses  were  visited  and  patronized  before 
they  left;  the  central  post  office  and  another  res- 
taurant or  so. 

Hereafter  they  would  ride  in  a  great  omni- 
bus, drawn  by  horses  harnessed  up  three  abreast, 
and  on  the  ascent  or  grade  in  the  Rue  des 
Champs  Elysee,  another  one  would  be  added. 
The  electric  car  and  more  rapid  later  transit  was 
not  yet  known  to  Paris.  There  were  some  nar- 
row tramways  whose  motor  was  donkeys.  So 
small  were  these  that  one  thought  of  them  as 
"children's  Pretend  cars."  At  first  there  was  no 
English  spoken  at  their  table  and  they  were  com- 
pelled to  use  their  fund  of  American-learned 
French,  which,  under  present  manipulation,  pro- 
nunciation and  articulation  had  become  a  rather 
marvelous  language  of  signs  and  gestures,  but  it 
answered  most  occasions  and  their  particular 
needs. 


IRENE  LISCOMB  '143 


XVI. 

PARIS — THE    MORGUE. 

Ned  christened  this  wonderful  language  he 
and  his  family  were  practicing  on  their  victims, 
The  New  Speech  for  Mutes.  The  French  land- 
lady never  nonplussed  by  unusual  situations,  de- 
clared of  her  new  boarders  "Des  Americains 
Charmants !" 

Though  certainly  amused,  and  sometimes 
shocked,  she  was  always  exceedingly  gracious 
and  polite.  Her  voice  was  low  and  melodious, 
as  if  no  vexation  in  life  had  ever  been  known  to 
her,  nor  irritation  disturbed  her  gentle  or,  rather, 
genteel  soul.  It  was  a  new  sensation;  quite  a 
new  experience  for  the  new  boarders,  in  fact. 

The  ong  pronunciation  of  on  later  by  some 
other  tourists  at  her  table  seemed  but  a  natural 
if  not  a  beautiful  manifestation  of  their  earnest 
and  marvelous  wish  to  grasp  her  own  dainty 
language,  so  she  was  a  popular  landlady,  and  al- 
ways had  a  large  patronage.  It  did  not  much 
matter  if  the  mutton  was  underdone,  or  that  the 
chicken  had  been  dead  too  long,  her  suavity 
failed  not,  and  that  was  much  to  get  at  any 
boarding  house!  Cheerfulness  being  invaluable! 

She  would  be  very  happy  indeed  to  accom- 
pany the  Americans  to  the  Cemetery  Pere  la 


144  IRENE   LISCOMB 

Chaise,  if  it  was  their  pleasure  to  visit  this  re- 
nowned domicile  of  the  blessed  dead;  and  it  was 
their  pleasure.  So  with  the  landlady  as  guide, 
who  wished  to  carry  flowers,  which  they  bought, 
to  place  upon  her  late  husband's  tomb,  they  vis- 
ited Pere  la  Chaise,  up  in  the  rocks,  overlooking 
the  newer  Paris.  From  this  point  the  commun- 
ists or  Rebels,  or  whatever  the  mob  was,  bom- 
barded the  city  one  time,  well  sheltered  them- 
selves by  the  tomb  stones  and  monuments.  That 
was  long  before  the  large  crematory  palace  had 
been  thought  of.  This  building  of  later  years, 
being  a  merciful  provision  for  the  poor  of  Paris 
particularly,  who  could  hardly  afford  a  grave  for 
their  dead,  unless  it  were  a  hired  one  for  a  lim- 
ited time. 

Not  far  from  the  Crematory  palace  was  the 
grave  of  Rachel,  the  actress,  born  of  Jewish  pa- 
rents in  New  Orleans,  U.  S.  A.  The  Liscombs 
found  other  graves  of  Americans.  That  of 
Talma,  the  actor,  was  not  far  away.  Talma,  who 
had  taught  deportment  often  to  the  great  Na- 
poleon, and  planned  his  wardrobe  for  him! 

The  showy  tombs  of  some  Orientals  were  con- 
spicuous in  other  places;  those  who  had  died 
while  Ambassadors  to  France,  perhaps.  Many 
little  and  larger  shrines  were  scattered  about, 
wherein  were  bodies,  one  on  top  of  another,  from 
deep  down  in  the  rocky  vaults  to  near  the  top. 
Bead  wreaths,  imitating  flowers,  were  conspicu- 
ous everywhere.  The  older  ones  were  ugly, 
from  the  rust  of  the  wire  on  the  light  colored 
beads.  Within  these  small,  houselike  shrines 
sometimes  was  seen  a  metal  chair,  where  the  vis- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  145 

itor  might  sit,  while  visiting  his  dead,  after  he 
had  unlocked  the  door  of  the  shrine,  and  venti- 
lated it  a  while. 

This  cemetery  was  a  piece  of  rocky  hills  given 
by  the  priest,  Pere  la  Chaise,  to  Paris,  long  years 
before. 

They  found  the  tomb  of  Abelard  and  Heloise, 
and  noted  the  many  tokens  left  there  by  present 
day  lovers,  who  hoped  sometime  to  be  buried  to- 
gether as  these  now  were.  She,  the  abbess  of  a 
convent;  he  the  teacher  of  a  new  cult  and  a  monk 
in  a  monastery,  not  far  from  her;  but,  for  dif- 
ferent reasons,  never  united  in  life.  Indeed  they 
were  for  years  buried  in  different  graves.  She 
was  buried  in  the  grounds  of  her  convent  till 
after  he  died.  f 

They  peeped  into  the  cradle  of  the  crematory 
wherein  the  dead  could  be  turned  into  ashes  in  an 
incredibly  short  time;  and  were  shown  small 
boxes  of  red  pottery  about  six  or  eight  inches 
square  and  numbered,  in  which  the  precious 
ashes  could  be  placed  for  burial  in  the  cemetery, 
or  for  shipment  to  friends  elsewhere.  The  num- 
ber of  each  box  was  inscribed  in  ledgers  in  the 
stone  building  at  the  entrance  gate  of  the 
grounds,  as  was  also  the  names  of  the  deceased. 

A  narrow  promontory  or  ledge  of  the  ceme- 
tery had  built  upon  it  a  representation  of  Na-j 
poleon,  at  a  table  in  an  arbor  at  Elba.  His  tomb 
was  not  here;  but  a  plain  grave,  without  marble, 
was  railed  in  by  an  iron  grating,  on  whose  sand-j 
stone  base  was  rudely  cut  "Nye."  This  is  said 
to  be  the  grave  of  the  General,  Marshal  Nye, 
sentenced  to  be  executed  one  morning  at  Paris. 


146  IRENE   LISCOMB 

A  book  written  in  late  years  in  America  claims 
that  he  escaped  the  order  and  came  to  America, 
where  he  died  in  one  of  the  Southern  States 
some  years  later. 

The  gracious  landlady  conducted  the  new 
pensionaires  back  to  her  quarters  in  time  for  a 
late  dinner.  They  were  thoughtful  this  even- 
ing, talking  over  what  they  had  seen,  and  the 
career  of  many  of  the  great  ones  entombed  at 
Pere  la  Chaise,  just  overlooking  the  city. 

In  planning  for  the  next  day  they  promised 
themselves  a  visit  to  the  tomb  of  Napoleon, 
nearer  them. 

Reaching  the  Church  and  Hotel  des  Invalides, 
the  party  passed  into  the  walled-in  court  by  some 
of  the  invalid  soldiers  housed  here.  They  then 
went  into  the  immense  rotunda,  and  leaning  over 
a  railing  above  an  immense  granite  lined  vault, 
saw  the  granite  sarcophagus  containing  the  re- 
mains of  the  great  Napoleon  in  the  center.  They 
did  not  descend  into  the  large  round  vault,  as 
they  might  have  done. 

Many  emotions  stirred  within  them  as  they  re- 
flected upon  the  wonderful  career  of  the  man, 
the  soldier,  the  Emperor,  whose  brilliant  life 
had  gone  out  in  exile.  They  thought  of  Marie 
Louise,  his  wife,  of  his  son,  whose  palace  at 
Schonbrunn  they  had  lately  visited. 

After  the  two  last  days  sight-seeing,  they  all 
appeared  quiet  and  thoughtful.  The  older  couple 
somehow  seemed  impressed  with  the  insignifi- 
cance of  life,  because  of  the  uncertainty  of  its 
ending. 

Rene  looked  as  if  all  the  time  asking  "What 


IRENE   LISCOMB  147' 

does  it  all  matter,  anyhow  ?"  And  really  that  was 
the  constant  inquiry  of  her  mind,  as  she  saw 
more,  heard  more  and  read  more  of  the  career  of 
the  mighty  of  the  earth.  It  was  discouraging  in 
one  sense;  in  another,  it  was  a  reconciling  influ- 
ence on  her  character,  for  she  resolved  to  live 
out  her  life  uncomplaining;  taking  it  as  it  came 
to  her,  for  what  did  the  best  of  them  get,  more 
than  she  had?  She  dared  not  think  too  closely 
upon  the  fast  passing  event  of  life. 

On  Sunday  the  Liscomb  family  went  to  Notre 
Dame  Cathedral  and  enjoyed  the  music  of  High 
Mass.  It  is  built  on  the  foundation  of  a  former 
structure  of  the  same  sort,  as  war,  fire  or  mobs 
made  it  necessary  to  rebuild.  Statuary  of  dead 
sculptors  had  been  ruthlessly  demolished,  as  had 
been  threatened,  to  the  Colonne  Vendome  by  the 
maddened  Canaille,  in  other  days;  statues  which 
could  not  be  replaced,  though  the  building  migfct. 

Although  it  was  Sunday,  they  went  into  the 
morgue  near  by,  and  saw  three  figures  with  a 
thin  stream  of  water  pouring  over  each.  Two 
of  them  were  women,  a  young  and  an  old  one. 
Their  clothes  were  spread  out  near  the  owners 
for  recognition,  if  any  relative  came.  The  man 
was  large,  grim  and  did  not  look  like  a  French- 
man. It  is  told  that  three  francs  had  been  given 
to  the  finder  of  a  body  in  the  Seine  at  one  period 
of  the  city's  existence,  and  that  people  had  been 
hurled  from  the  bridges  by  murderers  for  this 
reward  of  three  francs,  so  the  city  had  to  annul 
the  reward,  as  it  was  found  positively  true  that 
several  persons  had  been  murdered  that  way  at 
night  time. 


148  IRENE  LISCOMB 

Returning  home  they  talked,  as  they  usually 
did,  of  the  music  of  the  High  Mass  at  the  Ca- 
thedral; stood  on  the  bridge  by  the  low  coping 
on  its  sides,  and  looking  into  the  water,  won- 
dered if  either  of  the  three  at  the  morgue  had 
suicided,  or  had  they  been  murdered? 

The  day  was  fine  for  the  season,  and  the  tour- 
ists felt  rather  surfeited  with  seeing  grave  and 
gruesome  sights,  so  they  walked  over  to  Pare 
Monceaux.  They  lingered  long  about  the  mini- 
ature lake,  sitting  about  on  the  seats,  talking  and 
talking  as  usual.  Near  by  was  a  limited  school 
for  English  nurses,  which  are  so  very  much  in 
demand  for  English  speaking  sojourners  in 
Paris.  Overlooking  this  park  were  the  houses 
of  some  renowned  persons  already  known  to 
travelers. 

They  went  to  the  post  office  of  the  precinct  to 
get  postage  stamps  and  cards.  Soon  after  ar- 
riving at  their  pension,  a  man  servant  went  from 
door  to  door  on  every  floor,  announcing,  after 
rapping  on  each  door  of  all  the  apartments,  "Le 
dejeuner  est  servi,"  for  which  the  family  was 

flad,  as  the  walk  had  given  them  fine  appetites 
:>r  luncheon. 

After  a  couple  hours  of  lounging,  reading  and 
resting,  the  party  went  to  the  Pantheon  and  to 
the  Madeleine  Cathedral.  A  funeral  was  being 
conducted  at  the  Madeleine,  and  the  front  of  the 
building  showed  the  great  doorway,  framed  in 
by  black  draperies,  as  they  would  find  a  private 
dwelling  so  draped,  while  a  dead  person  lies  in 
the  house. 

The  mourners  had  gone  afoot  to  the  church, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  149 

while  the  carriages  which  would  take  them  on  to 
the  cemetery  followed  them.  The  Mass  for  the 
dead  was  sonorously  sung  in  great  solemnity  and 
impressive  simplicity. 

At  the  Pantheon  they  were  shown  the  tempor- 
ary resting  place  of  several  renowned  persons 
who  were  afterwards  buried  elsewhere.  Driving 
then  past  the  Place  and  Arch  du  Carrousel, 
through  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  they  arrived 
home  in  time  for  the  seven  o'clock  dinner.  After 
that  was  over  they  were  in  no  manner  whatever 
in  need  of  going  out  to  some  amusement,  for  a 
famous  pianist  lodging  in  the  house  good-na- 
turedly rendered  a  beautiful  repertoire  in 
Madame's  Salon  to  an  appreciative  audience. 

He  liked  to  play  for  Madame's  guests  when- 
ever he  could.  He  was  handsome  and  gracious; 
therefore  very  popular,  if  not  positively  adored 
by  his  lady  friends.  Just  before  ten  o'clock  he 
took  leave  of  them  to  appear  before  the  invited 
guests  at  a  very  fashionable  house  at  another 
side  of  the  city. 

The  Americans  were  enjoying  their  stay  in 
Paris  very  well  indeed,  doing  sight-seeing  only 
as  it  suited  them,  for  they  had  ample  time.  Some- 
times they  went  to  the  theatres,  either  to  the 
Theatre  Francais  or  to  the  Odeon.  Some  other 
evenings  they  went  to  the  opera.  Then  they  had 
a  view  of  the  structure  all  brilliantly  lighted,  and 
filled  with  beautiful  women,  and  distinguished 
men,  with  their  dainty  colored  gowns,  and  spark- 
ling gems,  and  most  polite  deportment  of  person 
and  speech. 

They    remembered    when    they    had    seen    it 


150  IRENE   LISCOMB 

empty  and  commonplace,  without  this  brilliant 
light,  and  dazzling  congregation,  one  morning  a 
month  ago. 

Letters  from  America  reached  them,  recount- 
ing no  particularly  tragic  occurrences  further 
than  those  already  told  in  earlier  newspapers, 
about  the  rough  times  between  the  Carpetbag- 
gers and  the  citizens  of  the  South.  Believing  as 
he  had  always  said,  "All  will  come  out  right  in 
the  long  run,"  Major  Liscomb  was  now  mentally 
less  concerned  about  the  Reconstruction  of  the 
country  than  at  any  other  time  since  the  Civil 
War  had  been  ushered  in. 

One  Sunday  morning  they  walked  over  to  the 
Protestant  Church  not  far  from  them.  The  ser- 
vice being  so  like  their  own,  gave  them  a  touch 
of  homesickness,  which  soon  vanished  before  the 
vivacious  conversation  of  Madame's  guests. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  they  repaired  to  the 
Bois  de  Boulogne  to  see  the  Sunday  afternoon 
frequenters  of  this  park.  An  endless  stream  of 
people  came  and  went  for  hours  till  a  large  po- 
liceman would  be  needed  to  conduct  the  crowd 
of  persons  who  wanted  to  cross  the  streets,  past 
the  danger  of  vehicles.  He  had  but  to  raise  a 
hand  for  a  moment,  and  that  vast  procession 
respectfully  halted  till  he  and  his  followers 
passed  to  the  other  side  of  the  avenue.  They 
had  waited  a  long  time  perhaps,  but  could  find 
not  the  least  chance  to  make  a  dash  for  even  the 
"safety  island,"  provided  for  such  a  rush  at  the 
busiest  junction  of  streets.  The  Bois  extended  to 
St.  Cloud,  which  place  they  visited  the  next  fine 
day  they  were  able  to  drive, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  151 

Passing  the  Chateau,  Lonchamps  and  the  arti- 
ficial Cascade,  they  visited  the  Grand  Trianon, 
the  private  apartments  of  Louis  XIV,  XV  and 
Napoleon  I.  There  they  saw  the  State  Car- 
riages of  Napoleon  I  and  III,  their  guide  men- 
tioning the  enormous  cost  of  the  gorgeous  vehi- 
cles, which  are  perfectly  preserved. 

Visiting  the  Palace  and  Galleries  of  Versailles, 
they  looked  upon  the  great  paintings  there,  many 
of  which  represented  Napoleon  I  in  different  im- 
portant events  of  his  wonderful  career.  They 
were  led  through  the  Palais  des  Glaces,  where 
great  mirrors  lined  the  long  apartment ;  thence  to 
the  Fountain  and  Bassin  de  Neptune  and  over 
beautifully  green  grass  of  the  surrounding 
grounds. 

Returning  from  this  outing  they  took  the 
Grand  Route  de  Versailles,  passing  through 
Sevres,  Place  de  la  Concorde,  home.  In  walk- 
ing sometimes  they  went  into  churches  not  par- 
ticularly known  to  tourists.  Though  non-T3ath- 
olics,  Rene  and  Alice  declared  they  were  fast  be- 
coming it,  for  they  could  hardly  keep  from 
kneeling  on  the  Prie-Dieu  nearest  them,  and 
really  did  so  if  they  were  in  these  churches  dur- 
ing the  hour  of  service,  leaning  over  the  back 
of  these  small  split  bottomed  chairs,  with  shelf 
on  the  back  for  the  arms,  and  the  prayer  book 
to  rest  on.  It  is  possible  that  they  felt  the  sol- 
emnity of  devotion  as  honestly  as  many  a  church- 
man there  assembled. 

Rene  greatly  desired  to  have  some  lessons  of 
Madame  M in  voice  culture,  of  whom  she 


152  IRENE   LISCOMB 

had  heard  great  praises  as  an  ex-singer  of  note, 
and  a  very  successful  teacher. 

Though  pressed  for  time,  as  she  always  de- 
clared, Madame  M decided  to  accept  the 

new  pupil,  not  promising  to  make  of  her  a  prima 
donna,  however,  though  the  voice  was  fine. 
"Non,  non,  Mademoiselle,  mais,  je  puts  vous 
aider  a  chanter  plus  correctment,  je  vous  as- 
sure!" 

Rene  was  quite  satisfied  never  to  become  a 
public  singer,  and  only  too  glad  to  become  a 
pupil  of  the  great  teacher  under  any  limitation, 
and  soon  presented  herself  for  lessons.  Madame 
had  examined  the  voice,  and  understood  its 
qualifications  and  its  limitations.  She  always 
knew  how  to  demand  the  full  worth  of  her  in- 
structions, as  the  Liscombs  soon  learned,  on 
reading  her  circular. 

Rene  practiced  her  vocal  gymnastics  faith- 
fully, and  her  interest  in  the  work  greatly  pleased 
her  family.  The  organ,  as  a  German  would  say 
of  her  voice,  had  grasped  the  Marchesi  method 
with  marvelous  intuition,  and  had  increased  to 
wonderful  proportions  in  good,  clear  notes.  So, 
happily  passed  their  last  days  in  the  great  city 
of  Paris. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  253 


XVII. 

ART — A  FETE  DAY. 

While  Rene  was  vocalizing,  the  rest  of  the 
family  chatted  in  the  salon,  or  walked  in  the 
parks.  Visits  were  paid  to  the  galleries  of  the 
Louvre  to  see  the  paintings,  the  curios,  the  pot- 
teries of  different  peoples  and  different  ages. 
These  were  deposited  and  exhibited  in  more  than 
four  hundred  rooms  of  the  old  and  the  new 
buildings  of  the  Louvre. 

All  the  time  Rene  was  looking,  with  a  view 
to  selecting  paintings  she  might  yet  copy  for 
their  new  home.  In  the  galleries  of  the  Luxem- 
bourg were  the  more  modern  works,  chosen  by 
an  appointed  committee,  bought  and  kept  there 
for  a  term  of  ten  years,  and  then  to  be  removed 
to  the  Louvre,  unless  the  artist  died  before,  when 
it  would  go  to  the  Louvre  sooner.  These  works 
were  usually  chosen  from  the  yearly  exposition 
of  new  works  at  the  Palais  de  1'Industrie,  in  the 
Rue  des  Champs  Elysee. 

The  palaces  of  the  President  of  the  Republic 
were  also  in  this  street,  and  near  the  Place  de  la 
Concorde.  This  great  open  square  contained 
different  monuments.  One  evening  of  a  Fete 
day  they  had  seen  a  group  of  men  and  women 
standing  around  a  monument  singing  a  sort  of 


154  IRENE   LISCOMB 

Alsatian  chant;  their  heads  lowered  and  hands 
crossed.  They  had  hung  a  large  wreath  of  flow- 
ers on  the  monument  of  some  hero,  perhaps  slain 
in  battle  between  the  French  and  Germans,  over 
the  possession  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  on  the  Rhine. 
This  had  always  been  a  bone  of  contention  when- 
ever the  two  nations  got  into  a  war  with  each 
other.  Anyhow,  they  seemed  to  be  doing  a 
mournful  honor  to  a  countryman.  They  were 
Alsatians. 

This  Fete  day  had  been  observed  in  a  differ- 
ent manner  by  different  classes  throughout  the 
city.  No  carriages  had  been  allowed  in  the  im- 
mediate center  during  the  afternoon,  as  the 
streets  were  too  full  of  pedestrians.  The  Place 
de  la  Concorde,  as  well  as  other  places,  was  bril- 
liantly illuminated,  showing  clearer  than  ever  the 
Cleopatra's  Needle,  brought  from  Egypt,  and 
placed  on  the  exact  spot  where  numbers  of  no- 
bility had  been  guillotined  in  the  turbulent  revo- 
lutions of  the  volatile  nation.  That  same  guil- 
lotine may  be  seen  elsewhere  in  the  city  to  this 
day,  in  a  museum,  perhaps. 

The  criminal  of  the  present  is  beheaded  in 
another  part  of  the  city  in  a  prison  yard.  These 
tourists  heard  of  but  one  or  two  such  executions 
while  sojourning  in  the  capital.  It  was  sug- 
gested to  them  at  table  that  they  might  see  an 
execution  if  they  chose,  as  places  on  balconies 
and  roofs  near  the  prison  could  be  hired  for  them 
if  one  applied  long  enough  beforehand.  They 
did  not  hire- places. 

On  this  evening  many  people  danced  in  the 
streets,  on  platforms  laid  down  for  the  purpose. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  155 

Very  many  went  to  the  outlying  parks  to  amuse 
themselves,  as  a  German  would  say,  "Mit  kit 
und  kegel,"  which  means  "With  children,  and 
everything  for  a  grand  picnic."  Dancing,  eat- 
ing' and  drinking,  and  lying  around  enjoying  a 
day's  outing  and  rest  was  the  order  of  this  grand 
Fete  day  for  the  middle  and  lower  classes. 

Alas,  next  evening's  newspaper  recounted  a 
sad  story  of  a  tragedy,  enacted  during  the  after- 
noon of  the  Fete  day.  Everybody  read  it,  and 
there  was  a  lively  buzz  of  voices  that  evening  at 
dinner  when  discussing  it. 

The  story  was  about  two  couples  who  had  be- 
come friends  on  this  same  Fete  day  one  year  be- 
fore. One  of  them  had  a  child  almost  two  years 
old.  The  new  friends  visited  each  other  very 
often,  till  the  mother  of  the  little  one  had  become 
violently  enamored  with  the  husband  of  her 
friend.  Then  there  was  a  jealous  wrath  between 
them. 

They  met  at  length,  talked  the  affair  over  quite 
frankly,  the  offending  woman  vowing  on  her 
knees,  in  great  shame  and  humiliation,  never  to 
offend  again.  Her  husband  did  not  forgive  her, 
but  turned  her  and  the  child  out,  to  shift  for 
herself.  Her  mother  was  too  poor  to  do  much 
for  her. 

The  husband  of  the  forgiving  wife  was  often 
away  from  home  a  day  or  so  at  a  time  during  the 
next  few  months.  Coming  home  one  morning, 
he  dropped  his  hand  bag  in  one  of  their  rooms, 
smoked  and  lounged  about.  His  wife  proposed, 
as  it  was  a  Fete  day,  that  they  go  out  to  a  little 
park  quite  away  from  the  city,  and  have  a  rustic 


156  IRENE  LISCOMB 

dinner  at  a  restaurant  there.  He  agreed,  but  ex- 
cused himself  to  go  to  a  barber  near  by.  She 
prepared  herself  for  the  happy  outing,  glad  to 
have  him  with  her  for  the  day.  He  did  not 
come  for  her,  and  after  waiting  with  hat  and 
gloves  on  until  her  patience  was  worn  out,  she 
happened  to  see  the  hand  bag  at  her  feet.  She 
tried  to  open  it.  It  was  not  possible,  and  she 
dashed  across  the  street  to  find  a  serrurier.  He 
came  to  their  neat,  pretty  and  clean  apartment, 
opened  the  bag  and  disappeared. 

The  now  jealous,  suspicious  wife  soon  con- 
firmed her  fears  by  finding  a  woman's  small  veil 
and  other  belongings;  but  her  greatest  find  was 
a  letter,  in  which  was  told  the  fictitious  name  he 
had  employed  when  he  had  rented  an  apart- 
ment ;  number  and  street  written  out  in  full,  for 
his  wife's  former  friend  and  her  child,  about  a 
mile  away. 

She  seized  the  tiny  pistol  out  of  the  mass  of 
contents  of  the  bag,  and  put  it  in  a  pocket  of 
her  skirt.  Then  placed  the  stiletto  she  some- 
times carried  when  on  the  street  alone,  in  her 
bosom,  and  took  a  carriage  to  the  written  num- 
ber. 

She  had  some  difficulty  with  the  concierge, 
who  did  not  want  her  to  come  in.  She  finally 
got  in,  and  went  up  to  the  newly  hired  apart- 
ment. Rapping  at  the  door,  she  supposed  the 
right  one,  she  got  no  response.  Continuing  to 
rap,  she  awakened  the  child,  whose  voice  she 
recognized  as  that  of  her  friend's  baby. 

She  then  threatened  to  bring  an  officer — a  po- 
liceman, at  once,  if  they  did  not  open  the  door, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  157 

and  persisted,  telling  them  she  knew  all,  and 
would  forgive,  if  they  would  let  her  in.  The 
husband  opened  the  door,  and  as  she  went  in, 
he  dashed  from  behin4  it,  rushed  down  the 
stairs  before  she  could  get  her  pistol  out  of  her 
clothing,  and  into  the  street  instantly. 

The  offending  woman  hid  behind  the  high 
headboard  of  the  ponderous  bedstead,  for  she 
read  murder  in  the  face  of  the  maddened  woman 
confronting  her,  and  got  a  glimpse  of  the  pistol 
in  her  hand.  She  put  the  child  on  the  bed,  as 
she  rushed  about  the  room,  now  dodging  the 
shots  as  best  she  could,  to  be  caught  and  stabbed 
several  times.  At  least  a  half  dozen  cuts  and 
two  shots  had  finally  struck  her  down.  Her  ad- 
versary, believing  she  had  killed  her,  left  the 
apartment.  Her  victim  was  fatally  wounded! 
In  almost  a  dying  condition  the  wounded  woman 
had  been  carried  to  a  hospital,  and  a  priest  sent 
to  her. 

The  murderer  had  herself  driven  to  the  quar- 
ters of  her  mother-in-law,  whom  she  carried 
with  her  in  the  carriage  to  police  headquarters, 
telling  her  on  the  way  of  her  husband's  con- 
duct, and  of  the  tragedy  she  had  just  enacted. 

At  police  headquarters  of  their  precinct,  she 
frankly  related  the  thing  she  had  done,  the 
provocation,  and  said,  "Madame  will  die,  I 
know !" 

"Well,  that  was  a  horrid  ending  of  a  holiday. 
She  will  not  be  punished,  I  hope,"  some  one  said. 
"Only  she  will  probably  be  imprisoned  a  long 
time  before  her  trial  can  be  brought  about,"  an- 
other one  added. 


158  IRENE  LISCOMB 

The  Liscomb  family  often  went  to  an  English 
library  where  the  papers  and  magazines  of  the 
day  could  be  found  in  the  reading  rooms,  a  pot 
of  tea  and  cakes  or  butter  and  bread  were 
served,  if  desired,  at  your  reading  table.  The 
tables  were  small,  therefore  more  secluded. 
Everything  was  quietly  done,  and  hardly  an  oc- 
casional whisper  was  heard. 

Major  Liscomb  commented  as  he  went  along, 
"Observe  will  you!  English  everywhere  in  the 
world !  It  is  not  worth  while  to  work  one's  self 
to  death  over  languages.  English  can  be  heard 
anywhere,  and  if  you  have  mastered  French  you 
can  get  on,  almost  over  the  world." 

"No,  don't  you  remember  mother's  little  In- 
dian, Nancy,  and  her  language,  father?"  laugh- 
ingly asked  Ned's  wife. 

Mrs.  Liscomb  said,  "Well,  a  sign  language  is 
also  good,  as  we  learned  when  we  first  came 
here,  don't  you  know?" 

"Don't  I  know?  Don't  you  know?  Certainly 
you  all  remember  the  many  deaf  and  dumb 
mutes  not  so  many  miles  from  our  own  planta- 
tion, the  sad  result  of  the  intermarriages  in  the 
families  of  Cousin  Jonas  Wilson.  These  have 
a  sign  language  of  their  own  and  talk  rapidly 
to  each  other.  No  wonder  you  all  appreciate 
sign  languages.  French  and  German  don't 
count  for  much  in  such  situations,"  replied  Ma- 
jor Liscomb. 

Reading  from  the  evening  paper,  Rene  an- 
nounced, "Well,  the  wretched  creature  who  was 
shot  and  stabbed  so  often,  has  died  in  the  hos- 
pital, after  five  days'  extreme  suffering,  pray- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  159 

ing  for  forgiveness,  and  forgiving  all  who  had 
sinned  against  her." 

"It  always  seems  that  the  time  flies,  sure 
enough,  if  one  is  counting  on  going  somewhere," 
said  Alice. 

''Indeed  you  are  right,"  concurred  Rene.  "I 
have  not  done  half  so  much  here  as  I  intended. 
Just  one  picture  copied !  That  is  simply  awful ! 
But  I  must  have  another!" 

"Daughter,  go  and  copy  it.  We  can  wait.  We 
are  quite  comfortable,  if  only  the  mutton  and 
meats  were  better — that  is,  longer  cooked.  I  al- 
ways did  abominate  raw  meats,  you  know." 
And  Major  Liscomb  shrugged  his  broad  shoul- 
ders, as  if  he  had  mastered  the  ordinary  French 
shrug,  so  often  met  in  this  city  of  such  varied 
and  interesting  experiences — from  the  daintiest 
sublime  to  the  opposites.  Somehow,  when  over 
at  the  Luxembourg,  among  the  elected  marbles 
and  paintings,  they  had  forgotten  to  return  by 
the  ruins  of  the  Bastile,  whose  fall  is  celebrated 
on  every  fourteenth  of  July,  about  as  faithfully 
as  Americans  celebrate  the  Fourth,  so  they  jour- 
neyed once  more  to  the  Quartier  Latin  to  visit 
the  remains  of  the  old  cruel  prison  there,  of 
which  is  left  little  more  than  a  part  of  the  foun- 
dation. They  recalled  much  they  had  read  of  it, 
and  this  time  approved  the  work  of  the  Canaille. 

Another  long  drive  over  the  grand  Boule- 
vard and  through  the  Neuilly  Gates  again,  back 
to  the  Boulevard  for  an  hour,  then  home,  was 
their  farewell  of  Paris,  the  Beautiful!  Then  the 
packing  and  starting! 

The  dainty  sevres  cups  were  safely  packed  at 


160  IRENE  LISCOMB 

the  salesroom  where  they  had  purchased  them, 
just  ready  for  the  trunk  of  some  one  of  the 
party,  as  also  was  a  bit  of  Gobelin  tapestry  they 
had  secured  one  day  when  guests  had  been  ad- 
mitted to  the  manufacturing  rooms  of  this  re- 
nowned cloth,  to  see  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
produced. 

Many  gloves  and  gowns  and  draperies  and 
hand  embroidered  stuffs  had  been  accumulated 
at  odds  and  ends  sales  to  carry  home. 

Leaving  teacher,  Pension  and  very  interesting 
friends,  our  tourists  went  by  rail  down  the  Val- 
ley of  the  Seine  past  the  old  and  interesting  city 
of  Rouen,  to  the  old  seaside  town  of  Dieppe, 
in  sight  of  the  near  by  and  other  resort,  Ostend. 

Dieppe  and  Ostend  were  quiet  now,  compared 
with  the  season  at  such  watering  places,  and  only 
voyagers  at  Dieppe,  ready  to  cross  the  Channel, 
were  met.  The  party  was  fortunate  in  not  being 
seriously  seasick,  as  the  time  of  crossing  was  so 
short.  Rene  said  she  was  only  "getting  a  good 
ready"  for  a  fit  of  mat  de  wier,  when  they  were 
landed  at  Newhaven. 

Not  long  afterwards  they  were  in  London 
and  housed  in  their  former  hotel,  to  remain  a 
few  days.  None  of  the  others  knew  with  what 
agony  of  mind  Rene  again  entered  this  hostelry, 
where  she  had  heard  the  enchanting  tenor,  so 
like  the  voice  of  one  who  had  wrecked  some 
years  of  her  life's  happiness.  Alas,  it  may  have 
been  himself! 

Alice  and  Ned  were  not  slow  in  taking  in  the 
cruel  situation,  since  Alice  had  heard  the  same 
voice  at  the  same  moment  Rene  had  heard  it, 


IRENE  LISCOMB  161 

from  another  floor,  and  Ned  remembered  the 
story  of  it  which  Alice  had  told  him  when  on 
their  bridal  tour  of  the  Netherlands.  Their  eyes 
met,  and  each  read  the  other's  thoughts,  "How 
stupid  of  us  to  come  to  this  hotel  again!" 

Rene  had  never  alluded  to  it,  and  in  all  their 
confidences  it  seemed  she  never  would.  They 
went  to  Westminster  on  Sunday,  "This  time  not 
to  be  married,"  as  Alice  said,  "but  to  jog  their 
memories  of  their  vows."  And  indeed  they  re- 
flected much  over  the  somewhat  sad  wedding, 
for  Ned  was  still  an  invalid  at  the  time. 

Each  one  of  the  family  found  mail  from 
America,  and  from  a  few  friends  they  had  made 
while  abroad,  so  each  one  went  away  to  their 
particular  apartments  to  read  the  news,  Major 
Liscomb  taking  the  newspapers  with  his  letters, 
so  they  saw  little  of  each  other  until  about  din- 
ner time.  They  had  a  little  unpacking  to  do. 
The  young  people  appeared  in  pretty  dresses  and 
fashionable  coiffures,  made  up  after  late  Parisian 
styles. 

The  dinner  was  more  like  the  dear  old  din- 
ners in  America  this  time.  The  mutton  and  tart 
were  now  replaced  by  so  many  things  they  had 
longed  for  on  the  Continent. 

Things  began  to  seem  like  America,  which 
unfortunate  country  was  yet  the  dearest  one  to 
them. 

The  next  day  they  took  a  carriage  for  the 
morning  and  another  in  the  afternoon  to  visit 
places  they  had  not  seen  when  in  London  before, 
as  also  to  some  they  had  visited.  Among  them, 
they  went  into  New  Broad  Street,  St.  James 


1 62  IRENE   LISCOMB 

Square,  Trafalgar  Square  and  to  Nelson  Mon- 
ument, American  Exchange,  Royal  Exchange, 
The  Strand,  Somerset  House,  occupying  the  site 
of  the  palace  of  the  luckless  Protector,  Somerset. 
In  the  afternoon,  they  started  in  sight-seeing 
by  passing  the  Mansion  House,  which  was  the 
official  residence  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  Albert  Hall, 
Albert  Memorial  and  Buckingham  Palace. 
Through  a  stretch  of  three  parks,  in  Hyde  Park 
they  encountered  fine  equipages  in  plenty. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  163 


XVIII. 

HOME — THE  OLD   CEMETERY. 

Before  leaving  London,  Ned  ordered  a  two 
wheeler  and  he  and  his  wife  went  into  West- 
minster, and  loitered  a  minute  on  the  spot  where 
they  had  taken  their  marriage  vows  sometime  be- 
fore. 

It  was  pleasant  in  after  years  to  recall  it. 
From  the  Abbey  they  were  driven  to  the  elegant 
quarters  of  the  clergyman  who  had  married 
them;  were  politely  received,  and  went  away 
with  the  benediction  of  the  gentle  old  man 
sounding  in  their  ears  a  precious  remembrance: 
"Peace  be  with  you  now  and  always!" 

The  family  went  to  Glasgow,  visited  the  Art 
Gallery,  particularly  to  see  a  certain  Holland 
painting.  Eight  miles  out  took  their  steamer. 

The  return  steamer  was  of  a  popular  and  safe 
line,  but  not  such  a  large  one  as  the  one  that  had 
brought  them  over  to  Europe.  Being  yet  early 
in  the  traveling  season,  they  had  a  rather  quiet 
voyage ;  far  more  so  than  when  later  one  en- 
counters such  tremendous  throngs.  They  were 
attracted  by  a  genteel  old  couple,  who  seemed 
much  at  home  on  ship  and  sociable. 

It  was  the  eighth  time  they  had  visited  their 
old  home  in  Scotland  since  going  to  live  in  Mis- 


164  IRENE   LISCOMB 

souri,  in  the  States,  and  this  was  their  last  voy- 
age. All  the  older  relatives  in  Glasgow  were 
dead,  and  it  was  not  pleasant  to  visit  those  who 
filled  their  vacancies.  They  had  gone  to  the  new 
country  when  first  married. 

The  old  couple  were  well-to-do  farmers,  but 
people  of  intelligence,  having  kept  in  touch,  by 
reading,  with  things  European  and  American. 
The  old  gentleman  had  a  relative  on  the  Edin- 
burgh Review,  who  had  always  sent  him  Euro- 
pean newspapers,  until  he  died  a  few  years  be- 
fore. They  were  an  interesting  pair. 

This  time  on  the  ocean,  Rene  was  seized  with 
a  couple  days'  seasickness.  She  declared  she  was 
as  one  intoxicated,  or  as  one  swooning  away 
under  the  influence  of  chloroform,  during  the 
awful  stress  of  the  constant  nausea  of  those  two 
days. 

When,  however,  it  passed  away,  she  enjoyed 
the  voyage,  though  feeling  quite  "puny  and 
weak." 

A  few  days  were  spent  in  New  York,  touring 
places  with  which  they  were  unacquainted. 
Major  and  Ned  met  a  few  men  whom  they  had 
long  known,  and  talked  over  many  things  con- 
nected with  the  Reconstruction  of  the  South,  and 
of  the  prospects  of  the  cotton  business,  in  which 
Ned  now  felt  an  earnest  interest.  First  and 
above  all,  he  was  still  a  rebel  so  far  as  he  could 
be,  and  live  in  America,  and  he  meant  to  sell  the 
cotton  to  foreign  countries  just  as  long  as  ever 
they  could  not  have  the  necessary  machinery  and 
mills  to  use  it  up  in  the  South. 

So  he  advised  his  father  not  to  buy  one  bit  of 


IRENE  LISCOMB  165 

building  material  North  that  could  be  got  in 
the  South.  Approved  Architect's  books  were 
bought  and  studied.  One  after  another  of  the 
plans  for  the  plantation  house  was  discarded,  as 
cost  and  availability  decided  the  matter.  But 
from  the  lot  of  them  they  had  evolved  a  mixed 
plan  that  suited  them  very  well  for  a  comfortable 
home. 

One  morning  Ned's  wife  took  a  train  out  of 
New  York  City  to  seek  out  her  mother,  of  whom 
she  had  yet  had  no  news  for  a  long  time.  Back 
in  the  interior  of  the  State  she  arrived  at  the 
station  of  the  town  where  the  mother  had  lived 
since  the  Liscombs  and  Alice  went  abroad. 

She  found  her  mother  very  ill  of  pneumonia. 
After  coming  North  one  cold  after  another  had 
resulted  in  tuberculosis.  Now  it  seemed  the  ejid 
was  not  far  off. 

"O,  mother,  why  have  you  kept  all  this  from 
me  ?"  moaned  Alice,  as  the  true  situation  dawned 
upon  her;  and  she  was  overwhelmed  with  grief. 

"Alice,  child,  listen  to  me.  My  apparent  cold 
would  be  so  much  better  at  times  that  I  believed 
it  was  nothing  serious.  I  wrote  you  once  some- 
thing about  it." 

"I  never  got  such  a  letter !" 

"No,  no,  I  know  it,  for  the  letter  had  missed 
you  and  came  back  to  me."  She  was  speaking 
with  difficulty,  and  a  red  spot  burned  on  her 
cheeks. 

"Perhaps  you  would  better  not  speak  any  more 
now,"  said  Alice. 

"The  doctor  has  forbidden  it,  but  Alice,  will 


166  IRENE   LISCOMB 

you  take  me  down  home  and  bury  me  in  the  Lis- 
comb  Cemetery?" 

"Yes,  I  will.  Ned  said  very  lately  that  my 
father  had  been  temporarily  buried  in  their  fam- 
ily burying  ground,  but  as  I  had  married  into 
their  family,  we  could  leave  father  there,  and 
that  there  was  room  beside  him  for  you.  I 
could  not  bring  myself  to  write  it  to  you.  Don't 
talk;  let  me  talk  till  you  are  better."  Alice's 
eyes  were  overflowing. 

"Don't  restrain  me.  There  is  not  any  time  to 
lose.  I  am  awfully  ill!  Be  always  thoughtful 
of  your  aunt,  who  has  done  the  best  she  could 
for  me,  though  crazed  with  her  own  misfor- 
tunes." 

"Dearest  mother,  I  will  look  after  her,  but  her 
son  Joseph  is  good  to  her,  I  suppose?"  Alice 
said,  rather  inquiringly. 

"Child,  child,  he  is  a  drunken,  bad-tempered 
young  man,  and  is  now  married  to  Annie  Mil- 
ler, and  gone  West."  Mrs.  Wood  spoke  with 
difficulty.  "I've  loaned  them  money  sometimes. 
They  owe  me !  Let  it  go !  Our  means  is  almost 
exhausted.  Here  is  all  I  got  from  the  planta- 
tion, after  all  those  miserable  debts  your  father 
owed  were  settled."  She  reached  under  the 
feather  tick  for  a  bundle  of  papers  and  bills. 
Then  she  slept. 

The  awakening  was  the  last  momentary  strug- 
gle of  Life  and  Death.  Death  won!  It  was  a 
fearful  shock  to  Alice,  who  had  not  thought  her 
so  ill. 

The  kind  aunt  led  her  away  and  the  doctor 
gave  her  a  sleeping  potion  which  chained  her 


IRENE   LISCOMB  167 

faculties  in  slumber,  but  she  had  said,  "Prepare 
her  to  go  South  at  once,"  and  when  she  awoke, 
everything  had  been  prepared  by  the  under- 
taker and  friends  of  her  mother  and  her  moth- 
er's good  sister,  who  were  assembled  to  see  them 
off  on  the  sad  journey  southward,  after  a  prayer. 

The  undertaker  accompanied  her  with  the  re- 
mains of  her  gentle  indulgent  parent,  until  Ned 
and  the  rest  of  the  family  joined  them  on  the 
road  South.  The  aunt  was  also  with  her  to  the 
journey's  end. 

For  Ned's  wife,  it  was  a  cruel  homecoming. 
For  the  rest,  it  was  a  sad  one.  Cousin  Jonas 
Wilson,  with  several  of  the  old  acquaintances, 
met  them  with  hearse  and  carriages  and  they 
drove  right  out  to  the  old  stone-walled  burying 
fround  of  several  generations  of  the  Liseombs. 
The  locusts,  the  persimmon  trees,  the  cedars 
had  multiplied  astonishingly  all  about,  inside  and 
outside  the  low,  thick,  vine  covered — in  many 
places — old  wall.  The  myrtle-ivy  had  covered 
every  inch  of  the  interior  ground  till  one  could 
hardly  say  where  was  and  where  was  not  a 
grave.  Fig  shrubs  and  the  brave  little  briar 
rose  and  a  yellow  flag  bloom  were  growing  in 
most  of  the  spaces  these  others  had  left.  It  was 
a  romantic  spot,  and  there  they  laid  the  mother 
beside  the  father  of  Alice  Wood  Liscomb. 

Cousin  Jonas  could  get  no  clergyman  for  the 
occasion,  so  he  read  from  his  Bible,  and  talked 
and  prayed.  By  his  inexhaustible  kindness,  they 
were  comfortably  housed  with  his  large  fam- 
ily and  with  his  neighbors,  "until  they  could  do 


i68  IRENE   LISCOMB 

better,"  as  he  had  once  before  said  when  he  had 
redeemed  them  from  the  swamp,  as  Rene  put  it. 

The  old  frame  of  wood  down  by  the  Willow 
Spring  Branch,  once  used  as  cotton  gin  and 
packing  house,  was  now  put  into  repair,  and 
when  a  comfortable,  temporary  home  was  made 
of  it,  the  family  took  possession.  The  younger 
people  were  much  amused  at  the  prospective  fun 
they  should  have  in  this  camping  out  life  till 
the  home  was  built. 

The  cook  and  Mammy  Nance  lived  in  old 
Ben's  cabin,  where  the  mob  had  stored  their 
stolen  plunder  the  night  of  the  fire.  These 
women  soon  christened  the  rambling  old  frame 
building  housing  the  whie  family,  "de  Big 
House." 

The  lean-to  shed  joining  the  larger  building 
was  converted  into  a  kitchen.  Being  handi- 
capped by  many  needs  of  material  and  skilled 
workmen,  it  was  a  long  time  before  the  new 
home  was  finished.  A  woman  was  soon  found 
to  do  the  laundry  work,  but  was  treated  as  inter- 
loper by  the  other  two  of  the  cabin.  Turning  on 
them,  she  gave  them  "a  mighty  plain  piece  of 
her  mind." 

"You  good  fer  nuffin  N'Yo'k  niggers!  Ah 
haint  got  no  use  fer  you  nohow!  You'se  so 
sassy.  Dat's  all  you'se  learnt  in  de  Nawth  sho! 
Ef  dey  cain't  gib  me  anodder  cabin  'out  my  lib- 
bin  wid  you  all,  ah  done  go  fom  heah  mighty 
sudden!  D'yo'  all  heah  me?" 

The  Major  and  Ned  and  a  black  man  soon 
made  a  hut  for  her,  where  a  lone  stone  chimney 
stood,  quite  away  from  the  house  servants.  With 


IRENE   LiscrwB  169 

tubs,  flatirons  and  necessary  paraphernalia  and  a 
big  iron  kettel  out  before  her  cabin,  Eliza  went 
to  live  in  it. 

Mammy  Nance  was  appointed  to  the  care  of 
the  poultry.  A  number  of  fine  hens  and  a  colos- 
sal master  of  the  Hen-Harem  were  sent  over  to 
the  plantation  by  the  generous  and  genial,  sweet 
women  of  other  homes  in  the  vicinity.  In  the 
whole  world  there  are  no  kindlier,  no  more  lib- 
eral and  thoughtful,  nor  sympathetic  women 
than  these  Southern  neighbors  of  the  Liscombs! 
It  was  good  to  be  at  home! 

"See!"  said  Rene  one  day.  "There  comes  an- 
other cart  down  the  road  with  more  food  for 
the  'wanderers/  I'll  wager  a  cookie!"  And  sure 
enough,  with  dainty  napkins  over  dishes  of  deli- 
cious meats  and  desserts,  and  baskets  of  fresh 
vegetables,  eggs  and  a  jug  of  rich  fresh  rrfflk, 
the  cart  stopped  before  their  "chateau,"  as  they 
named  the  old  cotton  gin.  Having  no  garden 
yet  to  produce  such  things,  and  living  too  far 
from  the  market,  these  things  fell  about  them 
like  the  manna  of  the  Bible  story. 

It  was  not  too  late  in  the  season  to  plant  some 
eatables  for  the  autumn  and  winter  living.  So 
they  hired  any  negro  who  came  to  them  to  get 
work,  knowing  some  neighbor  had  sent  him,  and 
soon  had  thrifty  gardens  springing  up  in  the 
rejuvenated  and  rested  fields. 

The  late  corn  seemed  to  rush  in  its  rapid 
growth,  fearing  the  frosts  that  might  overtake  it. 
So  thought  the  Major  as  he  walked  about  the 
plantation,  enjoying  the  simple  things  of  life  yet 


170  IRENE  LISCOMB 

more  than  he  had  the  historic  marbles  an€  mas- 
terful paintings  and  palacee  of  Europe. 

It  was  the  Major's  policy  to  keep  Ned  in  the 
opinion  that  he  was  the  important  man  in  the 
construction  of  the  new  house,  and  could  be 
little  spared  to  join  the  political  Reconstruction 
blundering  going  on  in  town.  But  this  could  not 
last. 

Ned  was  young  and  he  was  alert  to  everything 
extraordinary  going  on  in  his  county  and  State. 
About  this  time,  the  annual  barbecue  of  the  vi- 
cinity was  due.  It  had  been  suspended  during 
five  years,  but  every  one  thought  it  time  to  re- 
vive the  custom  and  have  a  grand  reunion  of  old 
friends  who  had  survived  the  desolation  of  fam- 
ilies and  country. 

For  the  Brunswick  stew  and  the  barbecued 
pigs  an  experienced  cook  was  found  and  care- 
fully questioned  as  to  his  qualifications  for  the 
office,  with  as  much  interest  as  if  he  were  being 
selected  to  guard  a  voting  place  on  election  day 
in  town. 

Squirrels,  birds,  rabbits  and  chickens,  even 
guineas  were  sent,  with  peas,  young  corn,  lima 
beans,  tomatoes  and  red  peppers  for  the  con- 
coction of  the  Brunswick  stew.  Trenches  were 
now  dug  for  the  fire,  above  which  the  pigs  were 
to  be  roasted.  After  the  fire  had  been  burned  to 
embers  the  meat  was  put  on  the  iron  grate  made 
to  hold  it,  and  occasionally  the  cook  dipped  from 
a  bucket  a  mixture  of  salt,  pepper,  lemon  juice, 
vinegar  and  butter,  with  which  he  basted  the  hot 
meat  from  time  to  time.  "It  was  the  daintiest 
barbecued  meat  ever  eaten !"  everybody  said. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  171 

Every  one  who  had  known  the  Liscombs  in 
years  before  the  war,  and  every  one  who  had  not, 
but  were  invited  to  welcome  them  home,  had 
grasped  their  hands  with  much  show  of  friend- 
ship, for  they  considered  this  assembling  of 
friends  an  ovation  to  the  family,  once  more  at 
home,  to  become  one  oFthem. 

All  the  family  had  taken  pains  to  be  present, 
knowing  the  kindly,  neighborly  portent  of  the 
affair.  Every  woman  had  brought  a  well  filled 
basket  of  sweets  and  cakes  and  fresh  bread  such 
as  the  European  tourists  had  hardly  enjoyed 
during  all  their  wanderings.  At  least,  was  it  the 
good,  appetizing,  familiar  cookery  of  their  dear 
South  mingled  with  love!  Yes,  love  that  makes 
the  world  live  and  move.  Love  that  sustains 
the  soul  in  trial,  that  keeps  the  mind  from  sour- 
ing and  courage  from  fainting!  reaching  "the 
helping  hand  even  in  death. 

Returning  through  the  pines  and  past  the 
merry  brook  of  their  own  old  home,  the  family 
felt  a  more  sublime  and  fulsome  happiness  than 
ever  experienced  when  returning  from  any  view 
of  imperial  palace  and  garden  in  the  old  world, 
or  from  any  art  gallery.  The  older  ones  saying 
to  themselves,  "Blessed,  thrice  blessed  is  sim- 
plicity !  We  can  live  out  our  lives  here  in  great 
happiness  and  comfort  with  such  precious 
friendships  that  the  cruel  war  has  only  con- 
firmed, and  given  a  sweet  humility,"  said  the 
wife. 

The  cabins  of  the  negroes  were  overhauled, 
and  the  field  hands  made  comfortable.  Mrs.  Lis- 
comb  got  a  new  medicine  chest  and  stores  for  it, 


172  IRENE   LISCOMB 

so  soon  as  she  found  a  place  to  buy  one,  just  as 
she  had  done  when  the  slaves  were  chattels  of 
their  estate.  And  the  blacks  soon  learned  to  go 
after  "Mis'  Riah,"  instead  of  a  doctor,  which, 
in  few  cases,  they  had  ever  been  forehanded 
enough  to  do. 

They  bought  cattle  and  horses  so  soon  as  they 
could  get  good  ones.  The  field  hands  had  poor 
old  scrubs  now  of  their  own,  to  help  make  their 
living,  now  that  they  got  daily  pay  for  their 
work,  from  sun  up  to  sun  down,  according  to 
the  old  manner  in  slave  days ;  the  same  old  bell 
telling  when  to  begin,  when  to  stop. 

Their  rent  was  counted  in  now,  as  well  as  the 
corn  meal,  the  meat  and  groceries  furnished  by 
the  planter  generally  to  the  families  who  lived  in 
the  cabins.  The  house  servants  ate  at  a  wooden 
table  in  the  kitchen  after  the  family  had  eaten. 
Their  main  food  being  corn  bread  and  salt  pork, 
with,  sometimes,  vegetables,  left  from  the  tables 
of  the  whites.  The  women  took  the  coffee  left 
over  also,  and  putting  water  to  it  nearly  all  had  a 
small  cup  for  breakfast. 

The  blacks  are  moderate  eaters,  requiring  only 
simple  food  in  the  South.  They  are,  for  the 
most  part,  a  contented,  happy-go-lucky  people, 
with  numerous  children  of  various  shades  of 
black. 

The  cook  and  the  laundry  woman  soon  brought 
their  babies  to  the  plantation. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  173 


XIX. 

LIFE   ON    THE   PLANTATION — DEAD. 

Genial,  lovable,  generous  as  the  old  and  the 
new  South  always  seemed,  they  were  gifted  with 
a  certain  severe  strain  in  their  hot  blood,  gen- 
erally persistent  enough  to  get  what  they  de- 
manded. Before  the  war  they  got  rid  of  ob- 
jectionable citizens  by  frankly  telling  them  to 
"Go!" 

Since  the  war  was  over,  the  same  old  trait 
had  cropped  out  again.  A  man  in  the  Com- 
munity had  just  been  allowed  ten  days  to  find 
another  abiding  place  for  a  demeanor  that 
aroused  the  country  around  him.  His  wife  and 
two  or  three  children  could  go  to  him  later  on. 
The  young  woman  with  whose  name  the  scan- 
dal was  connected,  had  been  tabooed  by  the 
neighborhood  for  some  months. 

This  trait  led  the  male  of  the  country  to  or- 
ganize societies,  or  secret  orders,  to  drive  out  the 
Northern  Carpetbagger  and  negro  rulers  of  his 
Southern  States.  Their  ghostly  uniform  was 
enough  to  terrify  the  black  people  out  of  all  no- 
tion of  politics  for  themselves,  for  some  time. 

The  North  soon  saw  that  they  yet  had  spirit 
and  resolve  to  establish  suitable  governments  in 
their  States,  to  suit  themselves,  and  retired  in  a 


174  IRENE   LISCOMB 

certain  degree  from  encounter  with  them,  rather 
than  continue  the  bloodshed  again  renewed  in 
the  South.  But  this  condition  had  not  yet  been 
fully  settled  when  the  Liscombs  came  home.  And 
with  firm  determination,  they  set  themselves 
about  Reconstruction. 

With  bald  and  bold  movement  and  much  terri- 
fying shotgun  emphasis,  these  secret  organiza- 
tions convinced  the  others  that  the  South  was  a 
Southern  white  man's  government. 

The  country  wanted  peace.  They  remembered 
the  unspeakable  horrors  of  war  that  that  first 
gun  against  Fort  Sumter  had  brought  to  North 
and  to  South.  The  black  man,  though  free  now, 
did  not  care  for  politics.  His  slow,  patient  na- 
ture did  not  want  it  at  all.  If  he  had,  his  su- 
perior numbers  could  have  got  it.  His  charac- 
ter inclined  him  to  peace. 

While  slavery  existed,  he  was  a  political 
power  against  himself,  inasmuch  as  his  master 
was  allowed  certain  political  counts  for  every 
certain  number  of  slaves  he  owned.  And  now, 
though  free,  he  was  not  wanted  with  the  voice 
of  the  rulers  at  all,  to  whom  he  had  always  been 
an  aid. 

Many  outrageous  things  happened,  by  some 
people  understood  to  be  the  Consequences  of 
War,  no  matter  who  had  begun  it.  That  the 
South  endeavored  to  quit  the  government  and 
found  one  for  themselves,  Without  the  Consent 
of  the  Governed,  did  not  matter  now. 

Peace,  Peace  was  desired  by  the  North  and  by 
many  of  the  South,  above  all  other  considera- 
tions ! 


IRENE   LISCOMB  175 

So  the  conquest  was  soon  over  and  the  South 
finally  got  affairs  arranged  according  to  their 
wishes  and  needs.  And  the  hatchet  ought  to 
have  been  buried  right  then.  Through  State's 
Rights  they  accomplish  about  all  they  want.  But 
there  will  always  be,  as  there  always  was,  agi- 
tators who  are  alert  to  any  mistake  the  .govern- 
ment may  make,  no  matter  if  it  be  remedied  the 
next  hour.  If  such  people  had  always  before 
them  a  just  sense  of  the  Consequences  of  War, 
they  certainly  would  not  be  so  ready  to  insti- 
gate another  one. 

That  was  about  the  way  Major  Liscomb  meas- 
ured the  situation.  His  son  was  not  so  moderate, 
and  he  soon  joined  the  secret  organization  that 
had  made  things  politic  hum.  His  old  wound 
troubled  him  sometimes,  so  that  violent  night  ex- 
cursions were  impossible  for  him.  / 

The  lovable  woman  of  the  South  would  give 
the  last  drop  of  her  heart's  blood  in  patriotism, 
if  necessary,  just  as  freely  as  her  Northern  sis- 
ter would  support  her  husband  or  her  brother's 
patriotism,  as  they  saw  it.  So  the  Chateau  Lis- 
comb, as  the  old  cotton  gin  and  packing  house 
was  now  christened,  was  often  the  scene  of  con- 
gregated women,  who  had  met  to  make  up  the 
frightful  uniform  of  the  "Reconstruction  Party" 
of  the  community. 

Rene  was  tiring  of  everything  already,  and  one 
day  announced  that  "It  is  time  I  had  done  some 
sketching  before  every  flower  has  ceased  to 
bloom."  And  forthwith  donned  suitable  costume 
and  assembled  her  stray  paints,  brushes  and 
whatever  was  used  in  her  art  work,  and  took  her 


176  IRENE  LISCOMB 

way  to  the  garden,  to  sketch  the  beautiful  morn- 
ing glory  blossoms  she  had  often  longed  to  paint. 
Selecting  an  exquisite  spray,  she  had  soon  fixed 
the  whole,  coloring  and  all,  upon  canvas,  for- 
ever; as  also  a  lot  of  roses. 

A  spray  of  red  mammosa  and  one  from  the 
myrtle  tree  following  the  morning  glories,  in  be- 
coming immortalized  by  her  brushes.  She  re- 
turned late,  quite  content  with  her  beautiful  and 
pleasant  work.  Another  day  she  put  the  great- 
est, the  very  finest  oak  of  the  remnant  of  trees 
that  had  not  been  injured  by  fire  or  axe  the 
night  of  their  fire,  upon  canvas.  She  did  not 
want  it  daubed.  The  last  glimpse  of  Captain 
Budd  Stone  she  ever  had  was  from  under  it,  as 
he  mounted  his  horse  to  ride  home  that  night 
before  their  wedding  morning.  She  remembered 
that  the  moon  had  suddenly  peeped  from  behind 
a  cloud  and  shown  his  beautiful  and  impassioned 
face  in  all  its  manly  magnificence.  She  remem- 
bered every  feature,  and  how  often  she  had 
yearned  to  make  a  copy  of  it,  since  she  had 
learned  to  paint  with  any  conception  of  true  art. 

Pride  and  resentment  had  always  prevented  it. 
Pride  would  still  keep  her  from  painting,  in  the 
picture  of  the  tree,  the  handsome  man  she  saw 
cross  his  saddle  that  night,  as  she  stood  upon 
the  veranda.  She  thought  of  the  mocking  bird 
and  the  whippoorwill  she  heard  also  that  same 
hour! 

Sometimes  the  thin  walls  of  the  old  cotton 
gin  and  packing  house  echoed  and  reverberated 
with  sounds  of  music,  when  Rene  took  her  vio- 
lin and  Alice  accompanied  with  piano. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  177 

The  three  younger  people  also  sang.  Ned 
played  the  flute  he  had  not  touched  since  his  col- 
lege days.  As  every  one  of  them  had  had  vocal 
lessons,  the  music  was  very  agreeable.  To  these 
musicales  came  friends  from  other  plantations 
and  from  town. 

Major  and  Mrs.  Liscomb  contented  themselves 
with  being  hosts  and  auditors.  Mrs.  Wood, 
Alice's  aunt,  had  returned,  not  long  after  the 
funeral  of  her  sister,  to  the  North,  and  to  be 
near  her  dear  dead  son's  grave.  This  son  that 
had  been  her  sacrifice  to  the  god  of  war. 

These  were  the  happiest  days  of  their  lives, 
so  all  declared.  This  simple  life  in  the  "old 
Chateau,"  where  they  had  to  live  for  a  whole 
year  before  they  could  move  into  the  new  house. 
The  scuppernongs  were  mellowing  a  bit  in3" 
deed,  as  they  were  putting  things  to  rights,  for 
they  did  not  hurry  about  it.  And  the  hanging  of 
the  pictures  was  always  decided  by  Rene,  as  she 
boasted;  being  proud  that  she  was  the  artist  of 
the  Liscomb  family. 

"Ah,  home  again!  Husband,  are  you  not 
glad?  I  am  so  happy!" 

"Glad?  Glad  doesn't  express  it!  Now  if 
these  political  affairs  were  only  settled,  we  might 
breathe  easier,"  said  Major  Liscomb,  growing 
a  little  more  serious  and  thoughtful. 

This  had  been  a  glorious  cotton  and  tobacco 
season.  Peas  and  peanuts  were  "full  crop,"  and 
the  garnering  soon  began.  The  corn,  potatoes, 
millet  and  hay  had  no  rivals.  The  fruit  had  been 
less  fortunate,  for  a  late  frost  in  the  spring  had 
wrecked  the  most  of  it. 


178  IRENE   LISCOMB 

There  was  rarely  any  want  of  help  in  the  gar- 
nering time  of  crops  in  the  old  days.  At  present 
it  was  not  always  easy  to  find  field  hands,  so 
some  cotton  was  ryt  picked,  and  sometimes  the 
cattle  were  turned  into  the  pea  fields,  along  with 
the  fattening  hogs,  to  gather  their  own  feed. 

Most  of  the  South  accepted  the  thirteenth 
Amendment  with  expressed  reconciliation, 
though,  when  help  was  short,  it  is  possible  that 
they  felt  otherwise. 

When  the  excavation  was  made  for  the  new 
house,  the  whole  family  had  been  present  at  the 
uncovering  of  the  boxes  in  the  wine  cellar,  and 
to  their  extreme  delight,  not  one  box  had  been 
scorched.  So  now  they  unpacked  the  much 
treasured  old  family  silverware.  Everything 
was  just  as  clean  and  sound  as  when  nastily 
stored  in  the  little  cellar  the  night  of  the  burn- 
ing of  the  old  plantation  house. 

The  box  containing  Rene's  wedding  presents 
was  not  opened  yet,  as  she  had  suggested  letting 
them  alone  till  some  other  time.  All  the  boxes 
had  been  packed  for  months  before  the  fire,  in 
anticipation  of  the  very  event  that  had  hidden 
them  from  the  robbers  and  incendiaries  in  the 
wine  cellar. 

Their  hiding  place  was  to  have  been,  however, 
in  an  empty  grave  in  the  family  cemetery,  but 
the  robbers  came  unexpectedly,  and  nardly 
thinking  of  fire,  the  family  had  to  rush  them  into 
the  wine  cellar,  below  the  main  cellar.  As  all 
had  turned  out,  it  had  been  a  fortunate  hiding 
place. 

The  family  gave  a  house  warming,  as  their 


IRENE'  LISCOMB  179 

first  reception  of  friends  was  called  by  the  de- 
lightful people  whom  they  wished  to  entertain 
in  the  new  house.  These  dear,  kind  friends,  who 
had  made  such  a  joyous  home  coming  for  these 
wanderers  in  strange  countries ! 

The  reception  was  a  success  in  every  way.  The 
music  and  the  dancing,  which  followed,  were 
also  fine. 

Mammy  Nance  and  Eliza  were  in  their  ele- 
ment as  they  directed  the  newer  servants  how 
to  "Pass  'roun'  de  frushments." 

"Lawd,  Mis'  Rene,  dey  is  all  upsot  with  youse 
all  fine  house,  and  de  singin'  yo'  all  done  for 
'em.  Dey  calls  yo'  fiddle  a  violet  ur  violin.  Ah 
hearn  'em  tell  one  anudder  'bout  yo'  all  larnin' 
lots  in  trablin'." 

Eliza  had  to  tell  some  such  conversations  she 
had  overheard,  too. 

"One  dem  Wilson  cousins  she  say  yo'  all  fines' 
folks  she  ebba  met.  She  say  yo'  paint  an'  sing 
dess  fine,  lak  de  opry  folks  she  hear  one  time 
in  N'Yo'k  singin'.  Dat  ar  Quinnell  man  he  say 
he  know'd  Marster  Ned  up  Nawth,  at  college 
an'  he  dess  fine  as  silk;  an'  he  glad  Marster  Ned 
come  back  heah." 

Rene  finally  made  a  picture  of  the  new  house, 
with  Alice  and  Ned,  and  the  parents  standing 
on  the  veranda.  He  was  a  handsome  young 
man  and  his  sister  was  proud  of  him.  He  had 
been  her  defender  when  they  were  children. 

lie  had  been  ready  to  stain  his  life  and  his 
soul  with  manslaughter  when  he  saw  her  lying  in 
the  almost  deadlike  swoon  that  Budd  Stone's  act 
had  caused  her.  Indeed  to  this  hour  he  had  al- 


i8o  IRENE   LISCOMB 

ways  felt  a  protective  care  of  her;  it  may  have 
been  because  there  were  but  these  two  children 
in  the  family. 

There  was  a  striking  resemblance  between 
them,  which  could  not  have  been  closer  between 
a  man  and  a  woman.  She  had  grasped  the  art 
of  portrait  painting  marvelously,  though  an  ama- 
teur. 

Ned  and  Will  Quinell  had  been  fellow  stu- 
dents at  the  Northern  college  when  the  war 
"broke  out."  And  when  the  one  was  making  up 
his  military  company,  Quinell  was  the  first  to 
sign  his  name  on  the  enlistment  roll,  as  they 
used  to  say  to  each  other,  "to  shoot  Yankees." 

Ned  would  certainly  have  died  on  the  field  at 
Chickamauga  Creek  but  for  the  intervention  of 
Lieutenant  Quinell,  who  ran  down  some  camp 
followers  and  pressed  them  into  carrying  his 
Captain  into  shelter ;  his  own  men  being  all  slain, 
exhausted  or  scattered  when  the  battle  was  over. 

Their  families  were  now  very  intimate 
friends,  and,  be  the  function  musical  or  card 
party,  Quinell  was  sure  to  be  present.  Now  they 
belonged  to  the  same  Reconstruction  Clan,  as  his 
ancestral  Scottish  blood  seemed  to  fit  him.  He 
advised  Ned  not  to  go  on  horse  with  the  Clan 
when  the  work  was  too  severe,  for  he  always 
felt  a  brotherly  responsibility  for  him,  knowing 
well  the  narrow  escape  Captain  Ned  had  pulled 
through,  and  the  danger  always  pending. 

Their  private  musicale  had  just  ended  one 
night;  the  parents  were  abed,  and  Lieutenant 
Quinell  and  wife  were  already  taking  leave  of 
the  Liscombs  when  they  saw  Ned  wipe  a  ghastly 


IRENE   LISCOMB  181 

gush  of  blood  from  his  mouth,  and  a  stream  of 
it  kept  coming  up. 

A  sad  look  of  despair  passed  between  the  two 
men,  and  the  three  women  were  almost  para- 
lyzed with  horror.  All,  however,  handed  over 
their  handkerchiefs  to  Ned.  Quinell  and  "Big 
Sam  Thompson,"  who  was  waiting  to  close  up 
the  house,  supported  Ned  to  his  room,  where  the 
women  had  run  to  prepare  the  bed  for  him. 
Quinell  bade  him  do  no  talking,  as  every  effort 
to  speak  almost  choked  him  or  strangled  him. 

The  parents  tried  every  remedy  they  could 
think  of.  The  doctor  came  so  soon  as  Sam 
Thompson,  with  a  fast  horse,  could  bring  him. 
It  was  too  late!  the  violent  hemorrhage  had  ex- 
hausted and  strangled  him  and  the  deadly  pallor 
showed  that  he  was  dead!  The  good  old  pa- 
rents were  silently  wringing  their  hands!  The 
shock  was  too  great  for  tears,  as  they  bent  over 
their  dead  first  born !  Their  sacrifice  to  the  gods 
of  war! 

Ned's  wife  and  Rene  were  crazed  with  grief 
and  walked  wildly  about.  Next  day  a  messen- 
ger clad  in  black  passed  through  the  neighbor- 
ing town ;  stopping  at  each  of  the  best  houses  he 
rang  the  door  bell,  or  clattered  the  knocker.  He 
handed  in  a  black  edged  sheet  of  parchment  pa- 
per, with  soft  black  ribbons  hanging  from  it; 
requested  that  it  be  read  by  the  master,  or  the 
mistress  of  the  house,  and  then  be  returned  to 
him  on  the  veranda,  where  he  would  wait  for  it. 

This  was  the  manner  of  announcing  a  death 
and  funeral  in  the  aristocratic  old  town,  where 
no  daily  newspaper  was  published.  With  sol- 


1 82  IRENE   LISCOMB 

emn  and  appropriate  words  written  on  this  pa- 
per was  the  sad  and  sudden  death  and  funeral 
of  Captain  Ned  Liscomb  given  out  to  the  public 
of  his  county. 

Into  the  hands  of  the  friend  of  his  youth,  of 
his  fellow  student,  his  rescuer  at  Chickamauga, 
was  put  the  arrangements  for  the  funeral  and 
burial  of  Captain  Ned  Liscomb. 

The  undertaker  took  an  unusual  interest  in 
this  funeral,  knowing  that  the  man  was  a  brother 
clansman,  and  that  to  his  last  hour  of  life  he  was 
true  to  their  beloved  South.  They  also  knew  he 
had  died  for  his  patriotism,  as  certainly  as  if 
his  death  had  occurred  the  day  he  got  his  death 
wound  on  the  battlefield  a  few  years  ago. 

Reverend  Charles  Ferdinand  Torrence  was 
brought  to  read  the  sensibly  simple,  sublime  fu- 
neral service.  And  the  hymns  were  selected  by 
the  feeble,  heartbroken  parents. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  183 


XX. 

EARTH   TO   EARTH — THE   QUINELLS. 

The  long,  wretched  hours  before  a  funeral,  in 
this  case  passed  all  too  soon.  The  suddenness 
of  the  death  had  so  shocked,  so  benumbed  the 
relatives  that  a  realizatino  that  death  had  really 
occurred  was  hardly  yet  impressed  upon  them; 
and  a  wish  to  postpone  the  burial  was  clamoring 
for  expression  in  the  minds  of  the  four  imme- 
diate and  bereaved  mourners,  the  parents,  Rene 
and  Alice. 

The  floral  decorations  were  conducted  by  their 
friend,  the  wife  of  Will  Quinell.  The  roses  were 
even  more  beautiful  than  those  of  the  last 
months  of  summer,  because  of  the  autumnal 
cooling  rains.  There  was  yet  an  abundance  of 
flowers  and  vines,  and  long  garlands  and  arches 
had  been  prepared  everywhere.  A  pathway 
from  the  casket  to  the  hearse  had  been  strewn 
thickly  with  roses  and  blossoms  and  autumn 
tinted  leaves. 

There  were  branches  of  Ned's  favorite  shrubs 
and  trees  over  the  doors.  Beautiful  made-up 
emblems  were  about  the  casket,  and  in  all  the 
available  corners.  The  grave,  in  the  old  bury- 
ing ground,  where  they  had  laid  Alice's  mother 
two  years  before,  was  covered  by  beautiful  bios- 


184  IRENE  LISCOMB 

soms.  Every  one  within  a  large  radius  of  the 
Liscombs  had  sent  these  silent  tokens  of  tender- 
est  sympathy.  Even  the  negro  women  had 
found  in  their  little  gardens  "somethin* "  for 
Marster  Ned.  The  inside  of  the  open  grave  was 
lined  with  vines  and  roses. 

The  family  had  taken  leave  of  the  dear  one, 
with  doors  closed  to  others,  before  many  of  the 
others  had  congregated.  Then  the  black  people 
were  marched  past  the  casket,  with  lips  dumb 
with  awe,  as  they  took  a  last  look  at  their  good 
friend  and  master.  Major  Liscomb  supported 
Ned's  wife,  and  Rene  took  care  of  the  tottering 
mother,  along  with  Will  Quinell's  help.  Then 
the  family  was  led  to  an  upper  room,  from 
which  they  heard  with  bursting  hearts  the  read- 
ing, the  prayer,  the  talk  and  the  singing  of  the 
sad  service.  After  which  a  long  line  of  friends 
passed  by  the  casket,  on,  out  at  another  door, 
into  their  carriages. 

The  undertaker  and  Will  Quinell  had  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  family  passed  down  a  back  stair- 
way into  their  carriage. 

It  was  but  a  short  distance  to  the  little  ceme- 
tery. Slowly,  solemnly  the  remains  were  low- 
ered, the  prayers  read;  then  the  brotherly 
friends,  neighbors  and  clansmen  passed  for  a 
last  look  into  the  snow  white  vault.  Each  one 
dropped  a  tiny  evergreen  spray  upon  the  casket, 
and,  with  soldier-like  tread,  passed  out  of  the 
little  cemetery ;  a  few  were  ex-Confederates.  All 
were  grave  and  sorrowing. 

When  Rene  and  Alice  looked  down  into  the 
white  cemented  bottom  of  the  grave  for  the  last 


IRENE   LISCOMB  185 

time  and  upon  the  casket  containing  the  loved 
husband  and  brother,  there  was  no  more  con- 
trolling their  great  sorrow,  and  in  absolute  col- 
lapse they  were  both  supported  to  the  carriage. 
The  Major  and  his  wife  were  loth  to  quit  the 
grave  for  some  time  yet. 

Some  of  the  old  friends  had  remained  at  the 
house,  to  try  to  make  the  homecoming  less  diffi- 
cult for  the  stricken  family.  They  had  opened 
the  shutters  and  put  the  house  in  order. 

For  a  long  time  these  same  friends  took  care 
that  the  lonely  family  should  be  surrounded  by 
old  associates  every  night.  Mrs.  and  Mr.  Quinell 
came  almost  every  day  for  a  while,  and  carried 
them  in  their  own  surry  to  the  mineral  spring  not 
far  off,  and  drove  with  them  to  the  cemetery; 
then  through  the  picturesque  roads  checkering 
the  dense  pine,  oak  and  cedar  forests.  Some- 
times Mrs.  Quinell  brought  her  sewing  and 
urged  the  ladies  to  sew  with  her,  which  they 
very  frequently  did. 

When  no  others  could  spend  the  night  at  the 
plantation,  the  faithful  Quinells  brought  their 
baby  and  remained  with  them.  This  kind  prac- 
tice was  continued  throughout  the  long  winter, 
all  the  neighbors  planning  to  give  them  as  little 
chance  as  possible  to  indulge  in  solitary  mourn- 
ing. They  brought  many  a  new  dish  of  their 
own  cooking  with  them. 

The  Quinells  had  bought  the  Stone  plantation 
soon  after  the  disastrous  raid  and  fire.  They  re- 
built the  partly  destroyed  house.  The  four  miles 
between  theirs  and  the  Liscomb  house  was  trav- 
eled over  by  Airs.  Quinell  in  an  easy  new  phaeton 


1 86  IRENE   LISCOMB 

her  husband  had  given  her,  and  with  a  good  re- 
volver that  she  was  not  afraid  of,  in  the  seat,  at 
her  side,  as  was  considered  a  useful  accessory. 
No  worse  demoralization  existed  here  than 
reigned  in  the  North  since  the  degraded  condi- 
tion the  war  had  left  both  sides  of  the  country. 
She  often  prevailed  on  some  one  of  the  family 
she  visited,  to  accompany  her  over  the  country. 

They  met  no  outrage,  no  insult  further  than 
the  shallow  impudence  of  a  drunken  party  of 
negroes  one  afternoon,  for  the  rough  element 
that  ever  prompted  impudence  of  a  serious  na- 
ture in  their  county  had  met  the  halter  or  the 
shot  gun  promptly  and  uncompromisingly.  So 
the  negro  was  a  rather  respectful  creature,  back 
in  the  country ;  paricularly  where  the  servile  con- 
dition of  slavery  days  had  not  yet  been  contami- 
nated nor  died  out.  But  a  new  and  another 
generation  was  coming  on. 

The  Liscombs  loved  to  see  her  dear  little 
phaeton  waving  itself  about  in  the  lane  and  hur- 
rying over  the  red  and  stony  way  at  any  time, 
for  it  always  brought  a  cheery,  delightful 
friend.  The  Major  was  fast  losing  interest  in 
his  business,  and  was  glad  many  a  time  to  have 
the  strong  young  mind  of  his  son's  friend  come 
to  his  assistance;  he  was  too  old  to  keep  things 
going  as  they  ought  to  go. 

Sam  Thompson  had  sent  to  New  York  for 
Pete  to  join  him  on  the  old  plantation,  which 
he  had  done.  They  were  barbecuing  a  pig  not 
far  from  the  old  gin  and  packing  house  when 
Pete  arrived.  "Yum,  yum,"  he  said  as  the  deli- 
cious odour  had  reached  him,  before  he  yet  saw 


IRENE   LISCOMB  187 

it,  and  his  appetite  was  well  whetted  before  the 
negroes  had  been  sent  a  piece  of  it.  There  were 
at  least  twenty  of  them  sitting  about  hungry  for 
it.  They  now  ate  their  meals  there. 

They  were  not  all  married.  The  married  ones 
sometimes  had  the  five  o'clock  breakfast  in  their 
own  cabins.  But  the  old  Chateau  had  become 
quite  a  hotel  for  the  blacks,  and  they  often  called 
it  "de  tave'n."  There  was  no  end  to  the  picka- 
ninnies. Married  or  not  married,  their  progeny 
could  hardly  be  enumerated.  And  the  types  em- 
braced every  feature  that  had  ever  appeared  in 
any  dark  man's  land  on  earth.  But  yet  there 
were  some  quite  black  among  them.  There  were 
descendants  of  the  Negro  and  Indian,  descend- 
ants of  the  Negro  and  white  man.  The  Negro 
and  Indian  types  being  possibly  the  best  looking 
of  all.  The  whiter,  the  uglier  were  they,  in  most 
cases. 

There  was  one  curious  type,  always  strange  to 
everybody.  And  was  supposed  to  be  the 
Croatans,  pale,  sickly  and  quite  homely,  with 
pinkish  blue  eyes.  It  is  thought  that  these  are 
descended  from  Indian,  White  and  Mulatto 
races,  and  that  they  are  descendants  from  an 
early  colony  of  English  settlers  at  Roanoke,  who 
disappeared  and  never  has  been  accounted  for. 
It  had  been  arranged  between  the  colony  and 
their  English  leaders,  who  returned  to  the 
mother  country,  that  if  the  colony  left  their 
settlement  they  should  cut  the  name  of  their  next 
place  on  a  signboard.  The  colony  was  gone  and 
the  word  Croatan  was  carved  on  a  tree,  when 


1 88  IRENE  LISCOMB 

White  and  his  new  colonists  arrived  at  Roanoke, 
two  years  after  he  left  them. 

They  searched  the  island  of  Croatan;  not  a 
trace  of  them  was  ever  discovered,  though  Eng- 
land sent  ships  over  to  search  for  them.  In  late 
years  these  curious  types  have  been  thought  to 
be  descendants  of  this  lost  colony,  and  Indians 
and  negroes.  It  is  a  sorry  type. 

On  the  Liscomb  place  was  a  man  or  so  of  this 
peculiar  melange.  Strange  in  looks,  in  charac- 
ter unreadable. 

At  last  the  rainy,  dreary  winter  was  yielding 
to  milder  spring.  There  were  always  fresh  wild 
flowers  in  the  house,  brought  by  friends  or  gath- 
ered by  Mammy  Nance,  'Liza  or  'Lizbeth.  One 
day  'Lizbeth  brought  in  a  dozen  young  chick- 
ens to  show  the  family  that  she  had  found  in 
her  cleaning  up  of  the  wood  piles. 

They  were  so  helpless,  so  dainty  and  so  beauti- 
ful that  Rene  forthwith  looked  up  her  paints 
and  brushes  to  paint  a  picture  of  them.  Suc- 
ceeding, while  the  old  art  impulse  was  upon  her, 
she  copied  the  fluffy  little  things  very  faithfully. 

Every  day  brought  some  pleasant,  surprising 
revival  of  nature.  Later  the  fields  were  dotted 
over  with  men  plowing,  sowing  fertilizer  and 
seeds.  Later  yet,  women,  boys  and  girls  and 
men  were  rushing  the  "chopping  cotton,"  and 
"grassing  it,"  while  bursts  of  song  and  a  curious 
yodel  accompanied  their  long  hours  of  work 
sometimes.  The  Major  was  growing  more  list- 
less. 

Will  Quinell  kept  the  two  younger  women  of 
the  plantation  posted  about  the  works  of  the 


IRENE   LISCOMB  189 

Clan.  What  they  could  not  understand  from  the 
newspapers,  he  explained  as  well  as  the  rules  of 
the  oaths  that  the  mystic  circle  had  emblazoned 
on  their  frightful  uniform  and  banners  permit- 
ted. The  order  was  terrifying  the  blacks  quite 
out  of  any  desire  for  political  enhancement,  and 
the  Northern  Carpetbagger  into  a  willingness  to 
turn  affairs  over  to  his  Southern  brother  for 
adjustment. 

It  really  did  not  matter  about  details,  the 
main  things  of  the  disruption  having  been  won, 
the  high  principals  of  the  late  fight  was  an  indif- 
ferent incident. 

Though  the  Clan  had  a  large  following,  it  was 
hard  to  know  who  was  and  who  wasn't  a  mem- 
ber of  it.  Their  main  work  was  performed  with 
masks  on  their  faces.  They  became  such  a 
power  that  everything  went  down  before  its  de- 
termined sentences,  office  or  life,  as  suited. 

The  negro  soon  thoroughly  understood  his  sit- 
uation in  the  South,  and  continued  to  serve  mas- 
ters as  before,  only  now  he  began  to  accumu- 
late some  property  and  work  a  little  less.  He 
began  to  own  a  horse  or  so,  a  buggy;  and 
schools,  very  few  just  now,  however,  and 
churches  were  erected  on  a  corner  of  a  planta- 
tion a  few  miles  apart,  too. 

The  numerous  progeny  thrived  in  spite  of 
many  hardships,  so  the  South  had  more  negroes 
now  than  they  had  white  men,  as  in  the  old  days, 
though  there  was  a  continual  immigration  to  the 
North.  They  could  now  take  a  holiday  from 
their  work,  if  it  happened  they  desired  one,  at 
any  time. 


190  IRENE  LISCOMB 

"Mis'  Riah,  Mammy  Nance  she  say  she  cain't 
ha'dly  walk  no  mo',  an'  she  say,  yessum,  thanky, 
she  do  wish  yo'  all  sen'  huh  some  mo'  dat  co'n 
bread,  fus'  and  fomos/  fuh  huh  dinnuh.  She 
say,  dat  liniment  done  hoped  de  rheumatisms 
mouty."  All  this  pompous  message  was  deliv- 
ered by  'Lizbeth,  as  she  stood  outside  Mrs.  Lis- 
comb's  window. 

When  she  got  the  things  requested,  she  curt- 
sied and  curtsied  more  humbly  as  she  remarked 
how  many  things  were  sent. 

"Yessum,  thanky,  ma'm,  thanky,  ma'm!  Ah 
tole  huh  how  much  you  done  sont  huh.  Mammy 
Nance  she  gittin'  long  so'ta  ole.  Dis  mo'nin'  she 
seem  puhty  peart  for  a  HI  while,  den  she  fell  out 
mouty  soon." 

Cousin  Jonas  Wilson's  family  had  always  been 
foremost  among  the  attentive  ones  in  this  day 
of  trouble,  as  faithfully  as  they  had  been  in  those 
cruel  days  of  fire  and  sword  "and  famine,"  as 
the  Liscombs  used  to  add.  Jonas  either  came  or 
sent  over  every  few  days  to  learn  news  of  the 
mourning  neighbors,  or,  if  seasonable,  to  invite 
them  over  to  his  home  to  an  "ice  cream  lunch- 
eon." His  enterprise,  furnishing  ice  for  his 
household  and  for  the  sick  of  the  neighborhood. 

"Yes,  yes!"  he  would  say  regretfully.  "Sev- 
eral of  the  children  are  now  gone.  My  first 
wife's  son  and  daughter  are  married,  and  have 
their  plantations  near  by;  our  girls  are  now  all 
married,  or  teaching  school.  The  older  son  of 
my  second  wife  went  into  the  Navy.  One  is  em- 
ployed in  a  dairy  in  Washington.  Our  son  is  in 
school ;  that  is  the  youngest. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  191 

His  cheery,  jolly,  intelligent  face  was  always 
welcome.  They  were  always  glad  to  see  his 
wiry,  little  person  coming  along  the  oak  lined 
pasture,  knowing  there  would  be  something  in- 
teresting to  tell  so  soon  as  he  reached  them.  Al- 
though all  the  children  were  not  living  with  him 
any  more,  the  little  partnership  one,  of  his  and 
his  last  wife,  was,  and  the  others  came  for  a  sea- 
son now  and  then;  he  was  never  heard  lament- 
ing the  loneliness  of  old  people's  lives. 

He  took  life  as  it  was  meted  out  to  him  by 
the  fates,  and  was  liked  for  his  individuality, 
and  decided  upright  standard.  Some  persons 
wished  he  was  not  quite  so  upright  in  his  deci- 
sions against  intemperance  and  irreligious  flights 
in  his  neighborhood,  perhaps! 

Every  day  a  visit  was  paid  to  the  old  family 
burying  ground  and  fresh  flowers  placed  upon 
the  new  graves.  When  all  the  family  came  there 
together,  the  Major  knelt  there,  and  prayed 
"that  God  might  enable  them  yet  to  endure  the 
heavy  burden  of  sorrow  that  the  errors  of  his 
brothers  had  fastened  upon  them."  Ah,  how 
they  all  wept! 

How  vivid  in  their  minds  was  a  vision  of  that 
fine,  handsome,  brilliant,  young  man,  shot  down 
like  a  beast  into  the  smothering  dust!  How 
they  again  saw  this  same  man  a  nervous,  pale 
wreck,  lingering  between  life  and  death  so  long, 
that  sometimes  a  breath  of  air  might  have  re- 
leased his  soul,  it  seemed,  and  at  last  it  went  out 
like  the  flame  of  an  exhausted,  flickering  candle, 
breaking  all  their  hearts! 

It  may  be  that  they  could  not  always  become 


192  IRENE   LISCOMB 

resigned  to  the  burden,  as  it  had  been  brought 
to  them.  Some  sort  of  stiffened  and  hard  look 
came  over  one  or  two  of  them,  at  least,  like  a 
taint  of  rebellion,  as  they  arose  and  went  forth 
from  the  hallowed  ground.  Perhaps  the  wife  was 
thinking  there  should  be  no  right  allotted  the 
human  creature  to  lead  men  to  the  chance 
slaughter  of  a  battlefield !  It  is  a  sensible  belief. 

The  great  excitement  that  flushes  the  covey 
of  doves  in  a  woodland  hunt,  it  may  be,  resem- 
bles the  excitement  of  a  boy  when  the  war 
drums  have  urged  him  to  enlist,  and  which  the 
poetic,  romantic  of  life,  christens  patriotism. 
War  is  a  priceless,  exigency,  at  best.  A  humili- 
ating one,  it  ought  to  be  reckoned,  as  one  to  be 
well  and  earnestly  considered. 

The  tangled  thicket  of  shrubs,  locusts,  cedars, 
bluebells,  yellow  lilies,  live- forever,  daisies,  as- 
paragus, grasses  and  briar  roses  had  been 
thinned  out;  only  enough  of  them  to  be  pic- 
turesque had  been  left.  Of  the  briar  roses  and 
white  alders  and  tall  cedars,  just  a  few.  The 
vines  clinging  here  and  there  were  encouraged 
to  still  try  to  cover  up  the  crumbling  old  walls 
of  heavy  stone.  The  ground  myrtle  or  ivy  was 
left  before  the  new  graves  came,  and  was  re- 
placed nicely  over  them  by  the  sexton  and  Alice, 
along  with  a  clump  of  magnolias. 

It  was  a  grand  spot!  and  now  a  very  sacred, 
precious  spot,  from  which  to  turn  and  leave 
one's  soul- jewels! 

These  were  sore  experiences'  to  their  torn 
hearts;  and  they  were  glad  to  see  the  happy 
faces  of  the  good  neighbors,  Mrs.  Quinell  or 


IRENE  LISCOMB  193 

"Will,"  as  they  now  called  him  after  Ned's  man- 
ner of  address  to  Mr.  Quinell,  when  they  re- 
turned from  these  visits  to  the  shrine  of  their 
idol,  out  there  in  the  myrtle  vines. 

Alice  .  sketched  the  graves  and  the  old  bury- 
ing ground,  not  long  afterwards,  while  tree, 
vine  and  flower  were  at  their  best  in  the  early 
summer.  Alice  was  with  her  during  the  pro- 
gress of  both  sketching  and  painting  in  the 
morning  hours. 

They  had  become  indispensable  to  each  other. 
Everything  that  entered  the  plans  of  one  was 
embraced  in  those  of  the  other  young  woman. 
Each  knew  the  nature  and  opinions  of  the  other 
perfectly.  And  many  a  time,  when  one  was 
amused  by  some  occurrence  about  them,  of 
rather  a  ridiculous  suggestion,  they  each  knew 
better  than  to  look  towards  the  other,  lest  she 
laugh  right  out. 


194  IRENE  LISCOMB 


XXI. 

THE   BEACH — A   DELAYED   LETTER. 

One  morning  soon  after  breakfast  the  young 
ladies  of  the  Liscomb  plantation  told  Pete  to 
bring  the  phaeton  out  for  them.  They  stopped 
at  Mammy  Nance's  cabin  to  learn  that  she  was 
much  better.  The  granddaughter  living  with 
her  said: 

"Dat  rheumatismus  medicine  done  hope  huh, 
an'  she  say  thanky,  ma'm !" 

Rene  sent  in  some  delicacies,  and  the  girl 
came  out  with  plate  and  napkin,  saying  again 
and  curtsying  very  low: 

"Mammy  Nance  she  say  thanky,  thanky, 
ma'm !  She  say  yo'  all's  cookin'  make  'er  hongy 
once  mo'.  She  wush  to  heah  how  Mistah  Major 
comin'  on." 

Rene  said:   "He  is  pretty  well  to-day." 

"Thanky,  ma'm,  yessum,  thanky,  ma'm!"  And 
aside  she  said  to  Eliza,  "Ah  reckon  mammy 
so'ta  saterfied  when  Ah  said  thanky  ma'm, 
thanky,  ma'm,  'nough  times." 

Rene  was  laughing,  "for,"  she  said,  "that 
extra  thanky,  ma'm,  meant  mo'  if  yo'  all  pleases : 
dess  soon  as  yo'  all  kin." 

The  phaeton  was  at  the  door  already  when 
she  and  Alice  returned  to  the  house.  They 


IRENE   LISCOMB  195 

drove  over  to  Mr.  Jonas  Wilson's  home,  where 
two  of  the  daughter  teachers  were  passing  their 
summer  vacation.  Here  they  were  never 
obliged  to  be  on  formal  terms  with  these  old 
friends. 

They  soon  adjourned  to  the  garden  to  see 
what  new  plant  or  shrub  had  been  added  since 
they  saw  it  last  year.  The  mother  had  accom- 
panied them,  and  she  called  out  to  her  husband 
to  join  them. 

"Cousin  Jonas,  you  can  tell  the  girls  better 
than  I  can  what  you  call  the  new  bushes."  She 
meant  the  botanical  names. 

Warmly  shaking  hands  with  the  ladies  from 
the  neighboring  plantation,  he  proceeded  to  tell 
what  was  required.  Besides  six  new  roses  were 
some  Cape  Jasmine  shrubs  in  full  bloom. 

"Now,  my  wife  thinks  most  of  the  Jasamine. 
I  don't;  I  say  you  cannot  find  any  bit  of  silk  or 
velvet  fabric  on  earth  to  equal  the  color  or  the 
softness  of  these,"  and  he  touched  his  face  to 
the  roses. 

Laughing,  his  wife  said:  "See  him!  He 
really  loves  them,  I  s'pose,  Cousin  Jonas,  but 
come  here  and  tell  them  what  this  one  is  called. 
The  roses  will  let  you  go." 

"That  is  the  New  Bridal  Rose,  a  species  of 
Tea  Rose.  Smell  it,  you'll  see!  And  this  al- 
most black  one,  see !" 

As  they  walked  back  to  the  house,  the  wife 
said,  "Cousin  Jonas,  you  must  see  the  little 
chickens  Miss  Rene  has  painted!  Why  one 
could  almost  imagine  that  one  could  bury  her 
nose  in  the  fluffy  down  upon  them !" 


196  IRENE   LISCOMB 

"Really,  you  thought  them  quite  right?" 

"Yes,  Miss  Rene,  perfectly  natural  were  the 
beautiful  little  things.  And  I  want  to  tell  you 
that  mother  hen  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the 
lonely  old  thing  you  found  at  your  place  the  sec- 
ond day  after  the  fire.  I  have  her  pedigree 
down  fine.  Don't  laugh,"  she  begged,  as  they 
all  shrieked  in  merriment  at  the  idea  of  going 
back  so  far. 

"But,  don't  you  want  to  copy  the  Jasamine  and 
the  new  roses?"  asked  Mrs.  Wilson,  a  little  con- 
fused, and  wondering  if  she  really  had  got  the 
pedigrees  confused. 

While  at  Cousin  Jonas'  home,  they  made  up  a 
plan  to  go  to  The  Beach  for  a  stay  of  a  couple 
weeks,  or  a  month,  if  they  all  liked  it,  and  the 
parents  were  of  the  same  mind.  Cousin  Jonas 
was  to  look  after  renting  the  cottage,  which 
they  intended  to  hire. 

Not  long  afterwards,  they  had  heard  from  an 
agent  about  the  cottage,  and  soon  had  every- 
thing packed  that  they  had  found  was  not  al- 
ready in  the  cottage.  The  parents  were  really 
as  pleased  as  children  with  the  idea  of  an  out- 
ing. The  three  servants  were  notified  of  the 
time  of  starting.  Mammy  Nance  was  not  par- 
ticularly needed,  as  she  was  never  strong  any 
more,  but  the  Major  said  they  could  not  go 
without  her  to  give  dignity  to  the  old  time  South- 
ern party.  The  real  intent  was  to  render  her  a 
kindness  in  her  last  days,  of  course. 

Not  a  very  long  time  was  consumed  in  getting 
settled  after  arriving  at  The  Beach.  Not  know- 
ing exactly  how  to  get  provisions,  they  had 


IRENE   LISCOMB  197 

brought  whatever  they  could  ship,  without  too 
much  inconvenience,  from  home,  a  considerable 
of  which  they  wished  to  try,  and  liked  well 
enough  to  try  again,  in  most  cases,  again  and 
again.  . 

At  first  the  party  looked  on  at  the  lively  scene 
of  the  bathers,  thinking  the  thing  a  little  absurd. 
They  did  not  hold  to  the  same  opinion  many 
days,  however.  First  one,  then  another  fell  be- 
fore the  temptation  of  the  rough  old  surf,  and 
were  just  as  gay  as  the  gayest,  in  the  water. 

"Nobody  can  be  sad  or  melancholy  mixed  up 
in  that  jolly  crowd  among  the  waves,"  declared 
Rene,  devoted  to  the  exercise. 

"The  release  to  the  sore,  enfevered  nerves  of 
the  four  mourners,  if  but  a  temporary  one,  is 
good  for  them,  and  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to  en- 
courage them  in  the  indulgence  so  long  as  we 
stay  here,  wife,"  said  Cousin  Jonas,  laughing 
heartily  at  something  very  lively  Alice  had  just 
done. 

They  all  abandoned  themselves  fully  to  the 
exhilarating  and  cooling  influence  of  the  surf 
bathing,  so  long  as  they  remained  at  the  beach. 
The  evenings  were  even  so  well  appreciated  by 
them  as  they  listened  to  the  ravishing  music 
produced,  as  Jonas  said;  the  Liscombs  said  ren- 
dered, by  the  Hungarian  Band,  in  their  gipsy 
form  of  passionate  expression. 

And  old  Mammy  Nance  had  so  recuperated 
that  she  forgot  the  pangs  of  rheumatism,  and 
took  on  a  new  lease  of  life.  'Lizbeth  and  Eliza 
thought  life  here  fine. 

To  the  parents  of  Alice  and  Rene  often  came 


198  IRENE   LISCOMB 

a  vision  of  Ostend,  in  that  far  away  country 
when  Ned  was  with  them;  of  the  many,  many 
such  places  they  had  seen  in  the  long  tour  they 
had  made,  for  his  sake  particularly,  came  for  a 
few  sad,  fleeting  moments  to  them.  To  all  of 
the  four  of  them,  the  adorable  music  brought 
sad  but  sweet  memories  of  his  sublime  love  of 
music,  and  of  his  talent,  too,  for  it.  He  was 
always  with  them. 

All  things  concerning  the  dear  one  of  their 
heart's  best  love  were  fast  becoming  sanctified, 
and  when  they  listened  now  to  the  music  he  had 
loved,  they  felt  they  were  adoring  him  through 
its  glorious  chords,  its  impasisoned  rapshodies, 
and  were  devoutly  glorified  through  it! 

"Let  us  take  our  farewell  tour  upon  a  steamer 
to-day,  for  I  fear  weather  to  prevent  it  is  in  the 
air,"  proposed  the  Major  one  morning. 

"Well,  we  have  had  a  lovely  outing,  and  I 
suppose  we  must  return  home  to  sit  around  em- 
broidering, and  embroidering  our  eyes  out!  I 
am  going  to  begin  again  the  lessons  I  was  giv- 
ing the  children  of  the  blacks.  It  will  be  some 
diversion  to  hear  their  funny  attempts  at  A,  B, 
C,  D,  and  hear  their  tired  sighs  over  the  difficult 
lesson,  and  to  see  their  triumphal  taking  on  airs 
when  they  can  read,"  and  Rene  laughed  a  little 
at  the  remembrance  of  the  little  earnest  black 
faces. 

"I  am  sorry  to  go,"  said  Alice.  "The  ladies  at 
the  hotel  have  been  so  polite,  genial  and  nice  to 
us,"  also  said  each  one. 

"And  let  me  say,"  said  Mrs.  Jonas,  "that  old 
lady  in  the  brown  cottage  has  been  pleasant 


IRENE  LISCOMB  199 

company  for  us  two  old  women,"  pointing  to 
Mrs.  Liscomb  and  herself,  when  we  did  not  want 
to  go  tramping  with  the  girls,  and  the  others 
from  the  hotel.  "  'Deed  they  have  been  right 
much  company  for  us  many  a  time!  She  has 
promised  us  a  visit  some  day." 

The  Wilson  girls,  the  double  cousins,  were 
"sorry  to  leave  so  much  fun,  so  many  jolly  peo- 
ple, such  grand  music  and  the  good  menu,  to 
take  up  teaching  again." 

The  two  gentlemen  cared  little  how  long  they 
remained  away  from  home,  for  each  of  them 
had  rented  out  their  acres  to  well  known  tenants, 
who  now  boarded  themselves  and  would  pay 
rent  with  such  and  such  a  number  of  bales  of 
cotton,  a  little  tobacco  and  corn,  with  plenty  of 
field  peas. 

A  last  steamboat  excursion,  a  last  wallow  in 
the  sea,  a  siege  of  packing  up,  and  the  Liscomb- 
Wilson  cottage  was  locked  up  behind  them  by 
the  agent,  who  had  rented  it  to  them. 

Arriving  at  the  plantation,  the  family  was  a 
little  surprised  to  find  very  few  black  people 
about.  The  fruits  were  dropping  about,  rotting. 
The  tomatoes  were  lost  to  use  by  neglect;  no 
beans  nor  peas  had  been  canned.  No  late  tur- 
nips worth  speaking  of,  for  winter,  and  for  next 
spring's  salad  had  been  planted.  The  onion 
crop  had  been  put  away  early. 

As  Major  Liscomb  looked  upon  all  this,  his 
wrath  was  gathering  force,  and,  as  in  the  old 
slavery  days,  he  felt  like  gathering  a  hickory 
gad  and  sending  a  man  out  to  lay  on  a  few 
lashes.  But,  alas,  he  could  not,  as  the  present 


2oo  IRENE  LISCOMB 

day  regime  had  abolished  the  practice.  Seeing 
the  surprise,  'Lizbeth  suggested: 

"De  niggas  done  gone  'way  to  meetin'  ovah 
to  de  Quinell  chu'ch,  Ah  specs.  Dis  is  de  time 
a  yeah  dey  has  de  Augus'  meetin's ;  yo'  all  mem- 
bahs,  Ah  reckons." 

Sure  enough,  the  faint  sounds  of  their  shout- 
ing were  blown  over  the  intervening  miles  dur- 
ing the  silent  hours  of  the  most  of  the  long 
night.  A  few  of  the  families  were  at  home  the 
next  morning  to  prepare  baskets  of  eatables  to 
be  "toted  ovah  to  Marster  Will's,"  meaning  the 
church  he  had  permitted  them  to  build  on  his 
plantation.  On  the  same  acres  also  stood  a 
frame  school  house  where  the  future  black  man 
received  his  first  impressions  of  learning  from 
a  very  pompous  and  important  black  teacher. 

Peeping  into  a  coop  that  seemed  to  shelter 
chickens  one  day,  Alice  discovered  a  fine  brood 
of  fluffy  little  things  that  Mammy  Nance  had 
just  brought  from  a  nest  under  the  meat  house. 
It  was  a  treasure  for  art  work.  Turning  to 
Rene,  she  called  her  to  come  back,  saying, 

"Sister  Rene,  don't  you  want  to  give  me  that 
lesson  in  painting  little  chickens?  for  I  don't 
imagine  there  will  be  many  more  opportunities. 
The  frost  will  chill  the  little  darlings,  and  they 
will  be  crying  and  ugly." 

"Well,  say,  we  will  paint  them  to-morrow," 
said  Rene.  "What  a  beautiful  group  indeed,  and 
so  soft  and  sweet!" 

"Yes,  I'm  sure  I  never  saw  a  more  beautiful 
group."  They  both  took  up  a  handful  and  ca- 
ressed them. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  201 

They  were  tramping  about  the  old  Chateau, 
which  had  once  been  their  home  for  over  a  year, 
and  then  had  been  the  dining  hall  for  the  blacks 
a  long  time,  and  was  now  used  as  a  ginning  mill 
and  packing  house  again.  One  apartment  had 
always 'been  used  as  storage  and  safety  house. 
Having  a  metal  inside  wall  and  two  locks,  one  a 
strong  padlock  on  a  heavy  oaken  door. 

Loitering  and  aimlessly  roaming  about  one 
day,  it  occurred  to  Alice  to  influence  Rene  to 
open  the  box  containing  the  bridal  silver.  At 
first  she  was  inclined  to  still  leave  it  undisturbed, 
but  finally  consented,  exclaiming,  however: 

"Who  has  the  key?  I'm  sure  I  do  not  know, 
so,  unless  you  can  influence  the  door  to  open 
itself  by  saying  to  it  as  we  used  to  do  after  we 
had  absorbed  Arabian  Nights,  'Open  Sesame/ 
I  suppose  that  old  storage  apartment  will  still 
keep  its  secrets.  In  fact,  I'm  not  sure  where 
they  put  the  box  when  we  left  the  Chateau. 

"I'll  get  the  two  keys  if  you  are  willing  we 
should  open  your  box."  She  went  to  Major 
Liscomb's  apartments,  and  soon  joined  Alice, 
where  she  had  seated  herself  in  the  swing  under 
an  oak  near  by. 

This  time  they  brought  'Lizbeth  and  Eliza  to 
carry  the  box  up  to  the  house,  and  to  pull  out 
the  nails  from  the  top  of  it.  This  done,  the 
women  went  to  their  quarters  to  finish  the  large 
ironing  on  hand. 

"It  was  not  so  painful  a  task  as  Rene  had 
always  imagined  it  would  be.  A  slight  irrita- 
tion of  temper  curiously  took  possession  of  her, 
rather  than  pain.  And  she  overhauled  them  with 


202  IRENE   LISCOMB 

a  little  curiosity,  perhaps,  for  she  had  really  for- 
gotten what  the  pieces  positively  were,  how 
many  and  from  whom  they  had  been  received, 
as  it  was  her  mother  who  had  taken  charge  of 
them  and  packed  them  away  out  of  her  sight, 
after  the  luckless  morning  of  Budd  Stone's  dis- 
appearance. 

They  decided  to  put  them  on  a  high  shelf  of 
the  china  closet,  that  they  might  be  used  if 
needed,  as  they  had  found  themselves  in  need  of 
more  such  things  the  evening  they  had  given 
their  reception  and  musicale,  as  a  house  warm- 
ing. It  was  deemed  foolish  to  be  short  of  things 
they  had  packed  away.  The  ice  pitcher  being 
left  in  easy  reach  to  use  all  the  time.  The  maid 
Eliza  was  called  in  to  carry  out  the  excelsior  or 
packing  shavings  and  other  debris  on  the  floor. 

Alice  went  to  her  own  room,  when  the  work 
was  finished,  pleased  that  Sister  Rene,  as  she 
had  alwrays  called  her  since  her  marriage  to  Ned, 
was  forgetting  the  unfortunate  affair  with  Budd 
Stone.  But  the  sight  of  the  silver  mementoes 
had  brought  some  things  vividly  back  to  her 
mind. 

It  was  in  the  room  where  all  this  silver  was 
spread  out,  that  he,  her  beloved,  and  she  had 
pledged  themselves  to  marry.  So  the  sight  of 
these  mute  witnesses  in  Rene's  room  had 
brought  back  the  event,  and  the  realization  of  all 
the  wretched  tragedies  befallen  the  family  since 
that  night  of  their  betrothal.  First  was  Sister 
Rene's  great  sorrow ! 

The  peril  of  death  many  times  pending  over 
her  betrothed;  the  final  shot  that  ruined  his  life, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  203 

the  trag-'c  death  at  last!  She  wept  many  hours 
alone  in  her  room. 

It  was  good  that  she  did  not  know  what  con- 
vulsive, overwhelming  grief  had  shaken  her  Sis- 
ter Rene's  soul,  even  at  this  very  hour  in  the 
loneliness  of  her  chamber.  She  could  not  have 
comprehended  the  unspeakable  anguish  she  had 
given  herself  out  to  during  the  whole  night  as 
she  lay  there  alone  trying  to  solve  the  mystery 
she  had  just  been  entangled  in. 

It  was  all  through  an  old  letter  in  that  silver 
ice  pitcher  she  and  Rene  had  chanced  to  keep 
near  at  hand  for  every  day  use.  Opening  the 
pitcher  to  receive  the  fresh  ice  and  water  the 
maid  had  just  brought;  she  bade  her  wash  it,  but 
saw  and  secured  the  old  missive,  believing  it  one 
that  had  been  overlooked  in  her  bonfire  of  Cap- 
tain Stone's  letters,  for  it  was  surely  his  well 
known  writing. 

She  soon  saw  that  the  letter  had  never  been 
opened.  She  also  saw  that  the  postmark  was 
New  York  City,  and  the  date  several  years  back, 
standing  out  plainly  on  the  envelope.  On  its 
back  also  very  distinctly,  was  the  date  it  had 
been  received  at  the  town  near  by,  where  all  their 
mail  was  delivered  to  them  or  to  the  colored  man 
they  sent  for  it. 

Now  who  could  have  got  that  letter  and  put 
it  into  the  ice  pitcher,  instead  of  delivering  it  to 
her?  where  it  had  lain  these  long,  long  years, 
even  under  fire,  in  the  old  wine  cellar;  and  then 
was  stored  away  in  the  old  gin  and  packing 
house  yet  two  years  longer !  Ah,  yes,  her  mother 


204  IRENE   LISCOMB 

had  packed  it  all  away  to  save  her  sorrow.  What 
sorrow  that  oversight  had  now  put  upon  her ! 

The  letter  read : 
"Mv  DEAR  Miss  IRENE: — 

"As  a  sorrowful,  penitent  man,  I  write  to  ex- 
plain a  circumstance  most  harrowing  to  my  soul ! 
I  shall  relate  a  true  story,  no  matter  how  humili- 
ating it  is  to  me,  and  trust  you  to  judge  of  me 
according  to  your  divinely  sweet  nature. 

"As  I  rode  home  from  your  house  the  night 
before  our  nuptials  were  to  be  celebrated,  I  was 
assailed  by  a  woman,  indeed  an  actress  with 
whom  I  had  had  an  entanglement  two  years  be- 
fore while  at  college  up  North.  What  I  thought 
only  a  student's  frolic,  while  under  the  influence 
of  drink,  turned  out  a  marriage,  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  State  we  were  in  at  the  time. 

"I  did  not  live  with  her,  for  in  that  very  hour 
she  had  to  travel  West  with  her  company.  In  a 
short  time  I  read  in  several  newspapers  of  an 
accident  to  a  railroad  coach,  in  which  several  of 
their  company  and  this  woman  were  reported 
killed.  I  made  no  investigation,  not  caring  to 
advertise  my  nonsensical  lark  with  the  actress. 
She  was  dead ;  that  was  all  I  knew  then. 

"The  next  year  I  went  to  my  Uncle  Nathan- 
iel's, South,  and  met  the  woman  I  have  adored 
ever  since.  I  hardly  believe  that  the  girl  thought 
of  the  mock  marriage  at  the  time  with  a  particle 
of  earnestness,  for  we  never  even  corresponded, 
and  I  never  thought  of  it  more  than  the  play  they 
had  just  enacted  on  the  stage. 

"Well,  she  accosted  me  that  night,  as  I  rode 
home,  in  a  great  rage,  saying  that  I  was  law- 


IRENE   LISCOMB  205 

fully  married  to  her  and  she  intended  to  proclaim 
it  to-morrow  at  the  Liscomb  home,  unless  I 
abandoned  the  marriage  with  you. 

"Ashamed,  dazed,  I  hurried  North  to  get  her 
out  of  the  neighborhood,  discovering,  en  route, 
that  she  "was  certainly  a  victim  to  dementia,  but 
the  circumstance  of  the  lark  was  against  me,  I 
know;  so,  with  her  friends,  I  put  her  into  an 
asylum.  In  a  short  time  she  escaped  and 
drowned  herself  in  the  Hudson! 

"I  went  to  the  house  of  these  relatives  and  saw 
her  buried  by  them.  You  have  the  embarrassing 
sad  story.  Can  you  forgive  me?  I  am  more  the 
creature  of  unfortunate  circumstances  than  the 
responsible  criminal,  and  I  hope  you  see  it. 

"If  you  can  forgive  me,  write  me  just  one 
word.  Only  say  you  forgive,  even  if  you  can- 
not be  a  friend,  nor  ever  care  to  see  me  again. 

"If  you  cannot,  silence  will  be  the  sign  of 
your  cruel  sentence.  As  ever, 

"BUDD  STONE. 

"Address  No.  6750  John  St.,  New  York." 


206  IRENE  LISCOMB 


XXII. 

RENEWED   GRIEF — THE  CERCLE. 

The  contents  of  the  letter  almost  dazed  Rene; 
and  how  it  ever  came  in  the  pitcher  was  very 
puzzling.  It  was  amazing  that  any  one  could 
have  packed  away  the  silver  without  looking  into 
the  covered  pieces!  Yet  she  was  quite  certain 
her  mother  had  never  seen  it,  for  if  she  had,  and 
did  not  want  her  to  see  it,  she  certainly  would 
have  burned  it.  One  could  see  that  the  letter 
had  never  been  opened,  and  her  mother  had  not 
seen  it;  there  could  be  no  doubt  about  it. 

She  again  read  the  dates.  Over  and  over  she 
read  them.  Oh,  heavens !  It  was  so  many  years 
ago — ten  long,  wretched  years.  She  tried  to  re- 
member the  period,  or  something  that  may  have 
happened  in  June,  seven  years  before,  when  the 
letter  was  brought  to  the  house.  She  was  so 
shaken  with  different  emotions  that  she  could 
hardly  think  clearly  at  all. 

She  looked  at  the  post  mark  outside  again. 
"Yes,  it  was  June,  but  I've  found  it  at  last;  it 
was  June  the  fifteenth.  Where  was  I  June  the 
fifteenth — seven  years  ago?" 

Thinking  and  puzzling  a  long  time;  utterly 
bewildered,  she  groped  about,  till  suddenly  a 
certain  house  party — "Yes,  Annie  Miller's  house 


IRENE   LISCOMB  207 

party  it  was!  Well,  I  suppose  that  house  maid 
we  had  then  brought  the  letter  from  town,  and 
put  it  in  the  pitcher  because  I  was  away  and 
never  thought  of  it  again." 

"O,  yes,  I  understand  it  now.  Mother  had  the 
silver  cleaned  while  I  was  away,  and  when  it  was 
brought  back  to  my  room  it  must  have  stood 
upon  my  dressing  table  till  mother  chose  to  pack 
it  away  again  in  the  little  dark  closet  off  my 
room.  Then  the  maid  put  the  letter  in  the  pitcher 
for  safe  keeping,  meaning  of  course  to  deliver  it 
to  me. 

"Then,  mother  decided  to  pack  all  our  silver  in 
boxes,  to  be  convenient  for  hiding,  in  case  the 
battles  might  come  over  to  our  part  of  the  coun- 
try. The  maid  never  thought  of  that  letter,  I'm 
sure,  for  it  was  about  that  time  the  niggers  found 
out  that  they  might  be  set  free  by  the  Yankees, 
and  did  not  know  what  they  were  about  from 
that  time  on.  That  is  the  whole  mystery." 

But  the  fact  remained.  She  was  eternally  sep- 
arated from  her  lover  now!  "All  this  seven 
years  he  has  been  thinking  me  cruel,  unforgiv- 
ing !  Why,  he  has  not  been  so  very  wicked  after 
all !"  and  she  re-read  the  letter. 

She  had  thought  all  love  for  him  quite  sub- 
dued. But  she  found  it  not  true.  And  now  she 
never  should  be  reconciled  again!  Never  be 
quite  indifferent.  It  was  finished  by  this  last 
stroke:  Her  happiness  had  fled  forever!  Per- 
haps he  is  dead,  or  married !" 

So  she  had  tormented  herself  the  whole  miser- 
able night  through,  and  wondered  if  it  could  be 


208  IRENE   LISCOMB 

possible  they  might  meet  "Some  time,  some- 
where !" 

Both  sisters  were  ailing  next  day.  Rene  could 
not  raise  her  head,  because  of  the  pain  in  it.  She 
thought  much  about  the  thing  revealed  to  her. 
Now  she  knew  he  had  loved  her  a  year  after 
their  separation.  That  was  something.  But 
now?  "O,  when  he  has  believed  me  cruel  and 
unforgiving — who  knows  what  has  befallen 
him?  I  know  his  ardent  nature." 

She  decided  to  tell  nobody  of  it,  for  all  was  be- 
yond the  help  of  anyone.  Only  an  accident  of  a 
most  astounding  sort  could  change  affairs,  and, 
she  must  wait  till  "Some  time,  somewhere." 

The  more  she  tried  to  reconcile  herself  to  the 
state  of  things,  the  more  she  felt  that  hope  com- 
ing into  her  heart.  And  she  tried  to  encourage 
it.  She  must  meet  him  "Some  time,  some- 
where!" 

When  Alice  heard  that  Rene  was  unable  to  ap- 
pear at  breakfast,  she  made  an  effort  to  go  to 
her,  and  after  her  coffee  went  to  her  room.  She 
comprehended  that  Rene  had  been  suffering.  She 
thought,  of  course,  that  the  sight  of  the  silver- 
ware had  aroused  some  old  and  painful  reminis- 
censes,  but  was  astonished  at  the  way  it  had 
broken  her  spirits  and  changed  her  looks. 

Faithful  to  her  decision,  Rene  never  told  the 
thing  she  had  found  out.  She  could  not  talk  of 
it,  and  above  all  things  she  could  not  have  the 
affair  resurrected  and  talked  over  by  others, 
though  it  might  lift  a  slight  cloud  from  over  her 
standing  in  the  community.  Still,  it  would  bring 


IRENE   LISCOMB  209 

more  contempt  and  criticism  upon  Captain  Budd 
Stone. 

Alice  sat  with  Rene  the  greater  part  of  the 
day.  Reading  letters  to  her  that  had  just  ar- 
rived. Answering  a  couple  that  could  not  wait 
till  she  was  well  enough  to  write.  And  reading 
from  a  favorite  poet,  till  the  monotony  of  her 
smooth,  musical  tones  induced  sleep.  Then  she 
went  for  a  walk  on  the  great  lawn,  under  the 
glorious  oaks  and  met  the  two  faithful  friends, 
Mrs.  and  Mr.  Quinell,  coming  in  the  dear  little 
phaeton. 

She  was  a  tall,  thin,  rather  blond  woman,  with 
a  child's  pale  blue  eyes  and  light  hair,  a  frank 
sunny  nature,  and  a  hand  always  ready  to  lead 
a  friend  over  rough  places.  She  was  glad  of 
her  husband's  friendship  for  the  Liscombs.  He 
was  hardly  so  tall ;  a  slender,  shapely,  boyish  sort 
of  a  man;  "only,"  as  his  wife  said,  "for  the  Scot- 
tish vein  in  him  that  kept  him  straight."  His 
very  black  hair  and  very  blue  eyes  were  con- 
stantly puzzling  new  acquaintances  as  to  how 
a  Southerner  could  have  such  contradictory  feat- 
ures. He  was  spirited,  and  liked  to  be  in  com- 
pany with  lively  people.  So,  when  with  Ned's 
wife,  he  tried  to  amuse  her.  With  Rene  he  al- 
ways pretended  to  have  a  flirtation.  His  wife 
said: 

"I'm  not  afraid  of  their  flirtation ;  Rene  is  his 
match,  and  she  gets  just  as  much  fun  out  of 
their  nonsense  as  he  does.  Let  them  flirt! 
Neither  one  could  fall  in  love  with  the  other.  I 
am  always  on  hand,  to  chill  any  such  ardour  as 


2io  IRENE  LISCOMB 

sometimes  springs  up  between  the  married  and 
the  unmarried." 

"Now,  don't  be  too  sure,"  said  the  jolly  hus- 
band. "Love  sometimes  surmounts  colossal  diffi- 
culties. Witness,  for  instance,  how  I  converted 
your  father." 

So  sped  the  days  and  the  months  were  soon 
trundling  after  them,  with  only  the  passing 
away  of  a  few  more  of  the  old  landmarks  from 
time  to  time.  One  morning,  Luce,  the  grand- 
daughter of  Mammy  Nance,  came  running 
towards  the  "big  house"  with  eyes  protruding 
from  their  sockets,  crying : 

"Mammy  is  daid!  Mammy  is  daid!"  at  every 
jump. 

"Why,  Luce!"  said  Rene,  who  had  run  out  to 
see  what  was  the  sensation.  "When  did  she  pass 
away  ?" 

"Ah  cain't  tell,  sho !  She  done  daid  when  Ah 
fotch  huh  coffee  an'  co'nbread.  Ah  say  'Mammy, 
hain't  yo'  done  slep'  'nough  'thout  my  waitin' 
no  mo'  ?'  She  say  nothin'.  She  daid !"  and  Luce 
sobbed  lustily. 

Next  day  all  the  Liscomb  family  went  to  take 
leave  of  Mammy  Nance  forever!  Her  remains 
were  put  away  in  the  new  cemetery  on  Will 
Quinell's  plantation,  back  of  the  church  and 
school  house  that  he  had  permitted  them  to  have, 
ever  since  he  took  the  Stone's  plantation.  Her 
grave  was  graced  with  the  very  first  tombstone 
in  the  new  burial  ground  of  the  Negro  congrega- 
tion there.  Her  old  "Marster  and  Mistress" 
gave  H.  And  they  often  sent  flowers,  by  Luce, 
for  her  grave.  Occasionally  the  four  of  the 


IRENE   LISCOMB  211 

family  paid  a  visit  to  the  faithful  old  woman's 
grave  that  Fall.  Ground  ivy  was  soon  growing 
all  over  the  brown  or  red  clay  of  the  fresh  grave. 

Luce  took  a  place  as  house-maid  in  the  living 
house  of  the  Major. 

About  this  time  the  Quinells  invited  the  young 
ladies  from  the  Liscomb  plantation  to  join  them 
in  a  call  on  the  new  teacher  at  the  Cross  Roads 
schoolhouse.  So  they  came  with  the  surry  on 
Saturday  afternoon  to  carry  them  over  about 
three  miles  to  the  house  where  board  had  been 
secured  for  this  teacher.  They  passed  the  neat- 
est, tiniest  cabin  one  could  imagine  used  for 
human  habitation  as  they  journeyed  over  their 
way. 

It  was  a  temptation  the  girls  could  not  resist 
that  seized  them  to  alight  and  go  peep  in  the 
windows  of  this  cozy,  "cute"  little  structure 
where  the  new  teacher  taught  her  eight  pupils. 

It  had  been  built  in  a  grove  of  most  perfect 
oaks  and  had  a  windlass  above  the  well  curb 
which  was  wound  up  by  a  one-time  carriage 
wheel  instead  of  the  usual  dangerous  handle  on 
windlasses.  They  saw  an  excellent  open  fire- 
place and  very  comfortably  shaped  seats  in  their 
survey  of  the  school  house  for  the  white  children 
of  the  neighborhood.  Then  continued  on  to  the 
house  near  by. 

During  the  call  they  discovered  that  the  new 
teacher  had  some  knowledge  of  German,  French 
and  music.  They  were  delighted  and  invited  her 
to  join  them  in  a  Cercle  for  the  practice  of  their 
accomplishments.  They  set  the  next  Saturday 
for  their  exercise  and  the  Sunday  following  for 


212  IRENE  LISCOMB 

a  visit  with  them.  The  family  she  lived  with 
should  join  if  they  wished.  They  could  not 
come.  But  the  Quinell  family  could  come  on 
the  Saturday  afternoon  following  the  first  one. 

The  days  of  the  week  soon  fled  and  Saturday 
afternoon  brought  Miss  Walton  for  her  return 
visits  to  the  Liscombs  and  a  revival  of  their  ac- 
complishments, for  the  weather  might  prevent 
frequent  meetings  of  this  tiny  circle  of  students, 
and  they  were  all  eager  to  begin.  Major  and 
Mrs.  Liscomb  were  introduced  finally,  and  the 
old  wife  accepted  an  invitation  to  join  the 
French  exercise. 

There  was  a  lot  of  merriment  over  the  mis- 
takes of  the  unpractised  class,  but  "Mother  held 
her  own"  with  the  younger  ones,  the  girls  all 
declared.  After  French,  they  had  a  wrestle  with 
German  for  an  hour.  Then  a  walk  down  to  the 
Springs  near  the  old  Chateau.  The  supper  over, 
their  musicale  was  begun,  with  the  Quinells  and 
one  of  their  cousins  to  assist.  They  enjoyed  it. 

Each  soon  found  out  about  the  rate  of  music 
the  other  was  capable  of,  and  so  arranged  for 
their  next  meeting  and  study.  Quinell  played 
the  flute.  They  meant  to  make  a  social  event  of 
the  Cercles,  and  planned  to  bring  together  others 
of  the  vicinity.  Miss  Walton  had  studied  abroad 
also  at  a  German  city  where  she  had  relatives. 

Happiness  was  gradually  being  lured  once 
more  to  the  plantation.  Even  Rene  was  seeming 
quite  content.  The  Major  seemed,  however,  to 
be  growing  feebler,  and  behind  his  back  it  was 
admitted  sometimes  "that  he  took  little  interest 


IRENE   LISCOMB  213 

in  passing  events,  even  growing  hard  of  hearing 
and  cross." 

The  meetings  for  mutual  practice  became  a 
regular  Saturday's  event.  And  they  experienced 
some  improvement.  Miss  Walton  was  pro- 
nounced 'an  interesting  addition  to  the  Cross 
Roads  Society.  She  and  the  Liscombs  undertook 
to  relate  simple  occurrences  they  had  experienced 
abroad,  in  French  or  German,  and  which  was  a 
"grand  coup"  in  learning  continued  conversa- 
tion. 

It  was  an  amusing  hour  in  which  the  orchestra 
essayed  to  play  all  their  parts  together,  and  more 
laughing  than  playing  was  done.  But  the  piano, 
the  violin,  the  flute  did  marvellously  well  to  keep 
in  the  same  measure  many  times.  Mrs.  Liscomb 
was  created  musical  critic  before  a  piece  was  in- 
troduced to  their  public  audiences. 

About  the  middle  of  the  week  the  two  sisters 
Liscomb  often  had  an  hour  or  so  of  reminis- 
cences alone.  They  would  pick  up  a  thread  here 
and  there  of  operas  heard  at  different  times  and 
places;  their  musical  tastes  and  judgments  ran 
rather  parallel.  So,  if  one  of  them  struck  a  cer- 
tain song,  or  a  certain  strain  only  of  an  opera, 
the  other  caught  on  at  once,  and  it  was  played  to- 
gether until  it  was  exhausted  of  its  novelty. 

So,  it  would  continue  until  one  or  the  other 
went  on,  improvising  and  reminiscing  alone,  as 
Alice  expressed  it,  "World  without  end,  Amen !" 
One  of  them  generally  knew  to  what  fields  the 
other  had  gone  in  her  reflections  by  the  romance 
or  sorrow  her  notes  sang. 

Alice  so  understood  "Sister  Rene"  that  she 


214  IRENE   LISCOMB 

could  read  the  notes  her  violin  rendered  any 
time.  If  they  were  of  a  grieving  and  pathetic, 
low  voiced  sort,  she  remained  away  from  her  till 
her  melancholy  had  subsided.  Ah,  why  should 
these  two  not  understand  each  other?  Both  had 
about  equally  suffered  in  life's  sorrows. 

The  late  fall  and  winter  were  passed  in  this 
social  and  studious  way,  and  by  painting  pictures 
of  snow,  or  "Icicle  Scenes,"  as  some  were,  in 
reality.  A  visit  to  town  when  some  revival  in 
the  church  interested  them  was  once  or  twice  in- 
dulged in,  too.  Guests  came  home  with  them 
for  a  few  days  at  such  seasons.  It  was  hard  to 
live  over  the  holidays.  Harder  than  all  other 
of  the  anniversaries,  perhaps.  Especially  was  it 
so  for  the  older  ones.  They  thought  every  re- 
currence might  be  the  last  for  them  upon  earth. 
They  lived  over  the  joys  of  the  children,  too,  at 
these  other  times.  To  the  younger  ones  there 
was  not  time  for  this  sort  of  reflections,  as  they 
were  occupied  too  closely  with  the  present. 

They  all  went  together,  however,  on  Christmas 
morning  to  weep  and  pray  over  Ned's  and  Mrs. 
Wood's  graves.  Indeed  it  was  only  a  few  min- 
utes past  twelve  o'clock  in  the  night  when  they 
draped  themselves  very  warmly,  and  silently  took 
their  way  to  the  dear  old  family  burial  ground. 
They  carried  mistletoe  and  holly,  made  up  into 
anchors,  and  wreaths  for  each  of  the  new  graves. 
And  there  in  the  brightest  moonlight,  the  coldest 
of  frozen  snow,  they  all  knelt  close  together  at 
the  side  of  Ned's  grave.  Too  overcome  with 
various  emotions,  the  feeble  old  man  spoke  no 


IRENE   LISCOMB  215 

word  for  some  minutes.  All  of  them  wept  and 
sobbed  aloud  above  their  idol. 

At  last,  the  prayer  came  in  agonized  expres- 
sion and  passionate  appeal. 

"O,  Thou  who  wast  striped  and  crucified; 
Thou  -  understandest  our  supreme  grief  at  this 
hour!  Give  us  grace  to  forgive  them  who  have 
made  such  desolation  all  over  the  whole  land! 
Mothers,  fathers  and  children  mourn  without 
consolation  to-night,  under  Thy  holy  and  celes- 
tial light.  Hear  us — hear  us,  forgive,  O,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  did ;  not  even 
more  than  they  knew  when  they  crucified  Thee. 
Endow  our  broken  hearts  with  forgiveness  the 
short  time  we  must  bear  our  grief!  And  give 
us  to  meet  him  we  mourn.  Amen !" 

It  was  a  weird,  solemn  scene.  The  four  fig- 
ures, in  deep  black,  convulsed  with  passionate 
weeping,  kneeling  above  the  cold,  snow-draped 
grave;  now,  glittering  in  the  heartless  moonlight 
like  marble!  Rising  from  her  knees  the  first 
one,  Rene  tenderly  helped  each  one  of  the  others 
up  and  led  them  away  from  the  dear  grave  to 
that  of  Alice's  mother.  They  knelt  with  her 
here,  while  Alice  made  a  short  and  fervent 
prayer  above  the  grave  of  her  loved  one. 

The  day  was  spent  by  them  much  as  the  oth- 
ers of  their  vicinity  passed  it.  Church  in  the 
morning.  Dinner  with  friends,  and  these  friends 
were  Ned's  favorites,  who  had  insisted  on  having 
the  pleasure  of  their  company  in  an  earnest  way. 
Their  talk  was  very  much  about  Ned.  Will 
Quinell  related  lively  things  he  and  Ned  had 
done  at  a  Christmas  in  the  past,  when  they  had 


216  IRENE   LISCOMB 

returned  home  together  for  the  holiday  festivi- 
ties.   It  seemed  they  must  talk  of  him! 

Back  at  the  plantation  the  Major  had  given 
liberally  to  the  blacks  of  everything  to  make 
them  a  rich  and  joyful  festival.  The  old  Cha- 
teau was  not  too  full  of  cotton  but  that  they 
could  dine  in  it.  The  Pickaninnies  were  all  well 
remembered,  too. 

Next  morning  the  family  came  together  at  the 
usual  breakfast  hour. 

"We  have  had  a  fine  time  and  a  grand  dinner, 
I  say,"  said  Rene,  "and  the  drive  home  in  the 
beautiful  moonlight  was  simply  enchanting!" 

"Wasn't  it?"  responded  Alice.  "I  was  think- 
ing if  one  could  only  have  painted  it.  The 
Quinells  were  so  pleased  that  we  went  to  their 
beautiful  dinner!  And  perfectly  delighted  with 
the  gifts  we  had  sent  over  the  eve  before.  I 
saw  him  wipe  his  eyes  every  time  he  looked  upon 
that  hunting  outfit  of  Ned's,  we  sent  him.  And 
his  wife  was  proud  of  her  ring." 

"Let  us  go  down  to  the  Chateau  and  see  if 
the  kids  got,  each  one,  his  share  of  clothing  we 
l?;d  out  for  him!" 


IRENE  LISCOMB  217 


XXIII. 

MID- WINTER — DESPAIR. 

It  was  mid-winter  in  Chicago,  and  the  snow 
lay  in  piles  as  high  as  a  man's  head  on  the  edges 
of  the  streets  and  sidewalks,  on  the  West  Side. 
The  wind  had  blown  hard  all  day  and  all  night. 
Down  towards  the  lake  it  was  much  worse.  Peo- 
ple said  of  it,  "Why,  it  will  lift  you  out  of  your 
boots !" 

The  gas  still  burned  in  the  street  lamps  on 
West  Madison  Street,  but  about  all  lights  had 
been  extinguished  a  long  time  in  the  dwelling 
houses,  except  a  kerosene  lamp  in  a  new  wooden, 
two-storied  house.  In  the  living  rooms,  upstairs, 
was  this  lamp  and  a  woman  sat  sewing  there. 

Below  was  a  business  room  occupied  as  a 
Sewing  Machine  Office,  a  Pattern  store  and  a 
place  where  one  could  get  Stamping  Done  to 
Order. 

This  place  was  kept  by  a  widow  who  was 
gradually  sending  piece  by  piece  of  her  fur- 
niture to  be  sold  at  a  second  hand  store  down 
town.  For  she  needed  the  money  to  help  feed 
her  three  children  until  she  learned  how  to  add 
enough  sorts  of  businesses  to  her  store  to  sup- 
port them. 

The  late  husband  had  been  a  champion  billiard 


218  IRENE  LISCOMB 

player,  never  thinking  of  laying  a  bit  aside  for 
a  rainy  day.  One  day  he  fell  dead  with  a  cue 
in  his  hand.  The  wife  had  no  accomplishments 
whereby  to  gain  a  livelihood.  So  friends  of  his 
supplied  a  few  months'  rent  of  this  cheap  busi- 
ness room.  Lately  there  had  appeared  another 
announcement  card  alongside  the  sewing  ma- 
chine and  showy  trimmed  dress  pattern  of  thin 
paper,  saying  in  very  awkward  and  irregular  let- 
tering, 

SEWING  AND  EMBROIDERY  WANTED. 

The  large  front  show  window  was  now  pretty 
well  filled  and  began  to  put  on  a  sort  of  a  busi- 
ness air  "sure  enough,"  as  they  said  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

Now  the  widow  could  not  sew  worth  speaking 
of.  She  could  hardly  keep  the  ragged  garments 
of  her  little  brood  decently  mended  and  sewn  to- 
gether. But  she  was  learning  business  methods 
quite  rapidly.  She  took  in  the  work  and  let  it 
out  to  others  at  a  certain  per  cent,  of  the  price. 
But  in  the  living  rooms  above  was  a  more  prac- 
ticed seamstress,  who,  being  new  to  Chicago, 
very  much  wanted  this  work  for  herself.  She 
did  conscientiously  neat  work,  and  so  soon  as  it 
was  known  in  that  vicinity,  she  had  more  work 
than  she  could  do  without  working  often,  all 
night.  She  began  with  embroidery ;  that  did  not 
pay.  So  she  took  any  kind  of  sewing  that  came 
to  hand,  even  dressmaking. 

She  had  little  time  to  bestow  in  acquiring  the 
art,  and  tortured  herself  seriously  to  master  the 


IRENE   LISCOMB  219 

degree  necessary  to  its  accomplishment.  Her 
family  took  so  much  of  her  time.  It  was  her 
kerosene  lamp  so  often  seen  in  this  West  Side 
flat  late  into  the  night. 

It  was  an  awfully  hard  undertaking  she  was 
engaged  in ;  this  doing  her  household  duties  and 
caring  for  the  two  small  children.  Every  bit  of 
cooking  for  the  four  in  family  was  a  part  of  the 
task.  The  boy,  nearly  two  years  old,  was  now  ill. 
She  had  not  been  able  to  catch  up  with  the  or- 
ders she  had  on  hand,  although  she  had  worked 
nearly  all  night  for  some  time.  She  felt  worn 
out. 

To-night  the  child  had  been  particularly  trou- 
blesome ;  his  ailment  growing  alarmingly  like 
pneumonia.  Almost  beside  herself  with  the  anx- 
iety, the  overwork,  not  alone  of  the  last  months, 
but  of  several  hard  cruel  years,  she  could  hardly 
hold  up  her  head  or  keep  her  eyes  open.  It  was 
nearly  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  she  had 
succeeded  in  quieting  his  suffering,  and  getting 
him  to  sleep.  The  wood  for  the  only  fire  she 
could  afford  was  nearly  burned  up,  and  how  to 
get  more  was  now  bothering  her,  for  it  would 
be  so  dear  in  such  cold  weather!  And  the  price 
was  not  yet  earned.  She  put  another  cover  over 
the  little  daughter,  a  child  of  four  years,  and 
looked  up  her  sewing,  groaning  from  pain. 

Half  dead  for  want  of  sleep  and  from  weari- 
ness, she  set  to  work,  instead  of  snatching  the 
sleep  she  so  much  needed  while  the  little  ones 
slept ! 

"O,  God,  I  shall  die  of  my  burdens!    Is  tjhere 


22o  IRENE  LISCOMB 

no  help  for  me?  I  would  give  hundreds  of  dol- 
lars if  I  had  it,  just  to  sleep  a  little." 

She  could  not  see  her  stitches.  She  turned  the 
light  up.  It  was  no  use !  It  was  no  use ! 

Suddenly  she  sprang  to  her  feet  exclaiming: 
"It  was  on  my  hand!  That  horrible  worm!" 
She  shuddered  with  fright  and  looked  about  her, 
afraid  to  move,  so  sure  was  she  of  its  presence. 
With  bulging  eyes,  she  searched  for  it.  Where 
could  it  have  gone? 

Growing  a  little  calmer,  it  slowly  dawned  upon 
her  mind  that  no  such  worm  could  be  living  in  a 
Chicago  winter,  as  cold  as  the  present  one,  nor 
be  in  their  clean  apartment. 

"Ah,  I  am  crazy.  That  is  it !  No  wonder  I  am 
a  little  mad !  Of  course  that  vision  of  a  hideous, 
long,  bristling  thick  worm  crawling  slowly 
over  my  hand  was  an  illusion !"  But  she  held  her 
hand  close  to  the  smoky,  odorous  lamp  and 
passed  the  other  one  over  it,  to  see  if  she  could 
detect  its  footprints  in  the  pale,  limp  flesh. 

"No,  indeed,  the  only  wonder  would  be  if  I  did 
not  go  mad !  Sorrow,  the  shame  of  drunkenness, 
overwork,  child  bearing,  insomnia!  And  now, 
my  child  at  the  point  of  death,  no  food,  no  wood ; 
work  in  the  house  that  I  cannot  finish.  Why 
don't  Joseph  come!  He  has  become  such  a  liar 
from  drink,  that  I  don't  know  whether  he  is 
seeking  work,  or  lying  dead  drunk  in  the  back 
room  of  some  saloon,  where  they  will  rob  him  of 
the  last  cent  I  loaned  him  to  go  to  answer  adver- 
tisements in  the  Times." 

She  had  laid  aside  the  work  to  try  to  sleep. 
It  was  utterly  impossible!  She  was  thoroughly 


IRENE   LISCOMB  221 

broken  down,  and  was  hysterically  weeping,  but 
sleep  would  never  come  again !  That  is  the  way 
she  felt.  She  had  been  in  this  nervous  condi- 
tion for  a  long  time.  Her  brain  felt  as  if  it  had 
become  melted  from  the  unending  fever  in  it! 

Her  unskilled  efforts  to  do  dressmaking 
seemed  a  mountain  on  her  sore  brain.  She 
would  worry  for  hours  sometimes  to  determine 
if  a  ruffle  should  be  bias  or  straight  of  the  ma- 
terial ;  should  it  be  stitched  with  the  machine,  or 
(she  had  rented  one  of  the  widow  down  stairs) 
blind  stitched  by  hand? 

So  the  tortured  mind  of  the  hopeless  Annie 
Wood  had  been  humiliated,  worn  threadbare  by 
the  coarse,  brutal  drunkenness  of  the  man  she 
had  married  in  defiance  of  parental  advice,  and 
the  judgment  of  friends.  She  was  beginning  to 
see  that  reform  was  out  of  the  question.  Will 
power,  the  little  he  was  naturally  possessed  of, 
had  gone  down  forever  before  the  brain  havoc 
wrought  by  alcohol !  He  did  not  even  talk  of  it. 
He  was  morally  discouraged  and  hopeless  him- 
self. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  disease,  he  believed  he 
could  drink  or  not  drink  as  he  wanted  to.  Now 
he  did  not  want  to  leave  it  off.  Perhaps  slow 
paresis  had  set  in;  certainly  no  human  brain, 
could  ever  quite  recover  its  functions  after  the 
abuse  Joseph  Wood  had  put  upon  this  poor  or- 
gan. 

At  daylight  the  sick  child  woke  in  a  dying' 
condition.  Annie  ran  to  a  drug  store  over  the 
way  and  left  a  call  for  a  physician. 

Her  relatives  South  did  not  know  to  what 


222  IRENE  LISCOMB 

depths  her  husband  had  sunk.  She  had  not  writ- 
ten any  of  them  for  several  years,  fearing  they 
would  only  gloat  over  her  woes.  She  had  learned 
better  than  to  expect  anything  of  anybody,  when 
she  had  a  great,  lazy,  drunken  husband  at  her 
side.  Let  him  support  his  children  himself  is 
always  the  decision  in  such  matters,  and  Annie 
Miller  Wood  was  very  certain  never  to  leave  the 
decision  to  her  relatives,  nor  to  former  friends. 
"One  can't  count  on  the  friends  of  fair  weather 
to  spring  to  her  help  in  days  of  misfortune," 
Annie  declared  without  asking  anything  what- 
ever of  them. 

She  had  changed  places  of  residence  so  often 
to  please  Joseph,  to  help  him  cut  old  drink 
friends,  that  none  of  her  earlier  acquaintances 
could  have  found  her  if  they  had  wished  to,  and 
they  certainly  had  not  the  slightest  inclination  to 
trouble  themselves  about  it. 

Tardily  the  summons  for  the  doctor  was  an- 
swered. He  did  what  he  could  perhaps;  but  it 
was  beyond  his  skill  to  save  the  boy,  and  the 
light  of  his  pure,  feeble  life  went  out! 

At  this  moment  the  stupid  father  arrived  at 
their  clean  little  flat,  from  his  futile  "search  for 
employment,"  as  he  claimed,  'though  the  hour, 
and  his  red,  swollen  face  plainly  suggested  a 
prolonged  drinking  bout,  out  of  reach  of  his 
wife's  eternal  nagging,  as  he  termed  her  elo- 
quent entreaties  and  arguments  in  favor  of  so- 
briety. 

He  was  at  the  point,  in  sobering  up,  of  hys- 
teria. So  weeping  and  repenting  came  fluently 
and  abundantly!  He  knelt  by  the  dead  child  in 


IRENE   LISCOMB  223 

anguish  of  spirit,  unmistakably  suffering  tor- 
ments of  soul !  He  vowed  to  his  Maker  never  to 
touch  drink  again,  calling  the  spirit  of  the  child 
to  witness  the  vow! 

The  physician  soon  understood  the  situation, 
and  because  the  child's  father  had  served  in  the 
army  felt  a  tolerant  pity  for  him.  He  had  often 
said  in  his  life  of  practice  of  medicine,  "It  was 
only  a  wonder  that  any  men  were  sober  or  tem- 
perate men,  for  the  masterful  temptation  beck- 
oned from  every  square,  almost,  in  the  city!" 

"Who  was  to  remedy  the  thing?" 

Every  week  of  his  life  he  met  such  sights!  He 
needed  not  one  word  of  explanation.  He  fath- 
omed the  unspeakable  agony  of  the  mother's 
heart,  though  no  word  of  complaint  escaped  her, 
nor  one  tear  fell  from  her  eyes.  Her  sorrow 
was  beyond  words  or  tears.  She  thought  the 
end  had  come  and  she  must  die! 

The  physician  brought  his  wife  during  the 
morning,  for  he  had  learned  the  Woods  were 
strangers  in  the  West.  She  found  Mrs.  Wood 
packing  her  remaining  valuables  to  send  to  a  sec- 
ond hand  store  down  town.  The  marbles  the 
Liscombs  had  sent  her  as  bridal  gifts  the  doctor 
halted  and  sent  them  to  an  art  salesroom  where 
they  would  bring  a  better  price.  The  watch, 
chain,  bracelets  and  brooch  and  the  Dresden 
clock  and  vases  were  put  on  sale  in  appropriate 
places ! 

The  doctor's  wife  found  there  was  dearth  of 
everything  to  live  on  in  the  house.  She  found, 
too,  that  in  a  short  time  another  would  come  to 
take  the  place  of  the  dead  one,  therefore  let  the 


224  IRENE  LISCOMB 

things  go  on  sale,  knowing  how  badly  money 
would  be  needed  when  these  tired  hands  of  the 
mother  would  have  to  rest  a  few  days  in  en- 
forced idleness,  and  at  much  expense. 

She  had  often  met  worse  cases  in  her  slum 
work  for  her  church  in  the  city ;  and  many,  many 
of  this  same  sort.  Women  by  thousands  were 
grovelling  in  the  mire  and  slime  of  intemper- 
ance, struggling  with  unbearable  crosses  over 
the  bottomless  sewers  that  alcohol  had  dug ! 

"O,  God!  Who  is  to  remedy  the  wrong?" 
and  she  and  thousands  of  good  people  cried  out 
the  same  despairing  words  always.  The  same 
cry  will  forever  be  rending  the  air  while  man- 
kind are  the  wretched,  helpless,  brain-sick  vic- 
tims of  drink.  Joseph  Wood  could  not  have 
been  restored  to  health  and  reason  by  any  power, 
earthly  or  heavenly,  now. 

He  seemed  to  feel  no  responsibility  whatever. 
He  was  too  ill,  indeed.  He  was  only  sensible 
to  his  own  intolerable  suffering  from  the  late 
spree  he  was  trying  to  pull  through. 

Turning  away  from  the  dead  baby,  he  caught 
sight  of  the  small  flask  of  whiskey  some  neigh- 
bor had  rushed  over  with  when  the  news  flew 
round  the  few  neighbors  that  knew  them. 

"Baby  Wood  is  dying !" 

He  saw  it !  and  stealthily  carried  it  out  of  the 
chamber  of  death,  and  to  still  his  maddening  re- 
morse and  pain,  drank  half  of  it.  And  just  be- 
fore the  little  white  coffin  started  out  to  Grace- 
land  Cemetery,  he  drank  the  other  half! 

By  the  time  the  hearse  and  the  two  buggies 
reached  Graceland,  Joseph  Wood  was  stagger-* 


IRENE   LISCOMB  225 

ing  drunk..  It  took  very  little  alcohol  to  put  him 
in  that  condition.  Annie  could  not  put  her  hand 
into  his  bended  arm.  It  was  wholly  impossible. 
So  she  stood  beside  him  at  the  open  grave. 

He  was  bent  over  with  overwhelming  expres- 
sion of  grief.  The  little  girl  did  not  understand 
the  strange  thing  being  enacted,  and  looked  with 
wide  open  eyes  at  her  awful  looking  father,  then 
in  the  grave  where  the  pretty  white  box,  with  a 
single  rose  upon  it,  was  slowly  let  down  into  the 
big  hole!  The  eyes  of  the  mother  were  dry  as 
powder.  She  could  not  have  wept  if  they  were 
putting  the  other  child  away  also!  Madness 
was  certainly  pending,  for  to  her  the  scene  was 
absurd,  ironic!  Afterwards  she  tried  to  re- 
member about  the  burial.  She  remembered  all 
the  preacher  said,  and  how  ridiculous  it  seemed 
to  her!  Then  somebody  seemed  to  be  carrying 
her  to  the  carriage  wi'tk  tears  streaming  from 
his  eyes. 

Arriving  home  it  suddenly  came  upon  her  that 
her  baby  was  gone — gone  forever !  and  the  flood 
gates  were  opened,  and  tears,  tears  flowed  for 
hours.  She  was  utterly  broken  down  and  be- 
lieved all  was  over;  she  could  go  no  further! 
But  good  Christian  women  came  to  see  her,  led 
her  along  the  dreary  way  yet  a  little  while. 

Some  very  senseless  advisers  urged  her  to  go 
to  her  friends,  if  she  had  any,  in  view  of  the 
unspeakable  thing  yet  pending  over  her. 

"I  have  no  friends  to  go  to.  There  is  no  one 
to  undertake  me  and  my  woes.  I  cannot  leave 
my  husband,  for  he  is  now  beyond  help,  and  I 
must  care  for  him.  No!"  she  said  shortly,  "I 


226  IRENE   LISCOMB 

will  not  desert  him!"  This  sort  of  friends  de- 
serted her,  glad  to  shirk  a  little  charity  they 
thought  they  scented.  A  good  place  to  stop,  they 
thought. 

Next  morning,  before  it  was  daylight,  Joseph 
woke,  racked  with  a  consuming  thirst!  He  al- 
ways coughed  and  cleared  his  throat  loudly,  no 
matter  what  hour  of  the  night  it  might  be,  or  if 
he  woke  the  sick  in  the  house  or  the  en  fevered 
wife.  So  now  he  coughed,  cleared  his  throat 
and  thought  much.  It  was  too  early  to  get  into 
any  drink  saloon  near  by.  The  wife  was  at  last 
sleeping.  It  was  a  pity  to  disturb  her  by  get- 
ting up  and  out  of  the  house,  but  somebody  was 
on  the  sidewalk  over  the  street  now.  "Yes,  it's 
Joe,  the  bartender,  opening  up  the  saloon 
diagonally  over  the  way."  He  hurried  out  of 
bed,  saying: 

"Guess  Annie's  slept  'nough  by  this  time. 
Can't  help  it  if  she  haint.  She  has  to  make  it  up 
some  other  time !" 

He  was  soon  shutting  the  door  with  a  bang; 
he  did  not  know  they  ever  shut  without  a  bang! 
Annie  called  loudly,  "Joseph,  wait  for  coffee.  I 
will  have  it  in  a  minute."  He  hurried  down 
stairs.  He  was  suffering  the  torments  of  the 
damned  for  a  drink  and  curtly  ordered  the  man 
who  was  sweeping  out  the  drink  hall : 

"Gimme  something  quick;  my  wife  was  ill  all 
night  and  I've  had  to  take  care  of  her;  haint 
slept  at  all." 

The  fellow  kept  on  sweeping,  uncertain  about 
giving  it  to  him,  for  he  owed  a  bill  there  al- 
ready. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  227 

"Been  up  all  night  with  sick  wife.  D'ye 
hear?" 

"Sick  wife!  Hell!"  contemptuously  muttered 
the  man  as  he  dropped  the  broom  to  serve  him. 
Wood  went  home;  ate  the  remnant  of  food  that 
had  been  left  on  a  tray  of  food,  sent  in  on  the 
day.  of  the  funeral  and  slept  until  noon. 


228  IRENE   LISCOMB 


XXIV. 

JOSEPH    WOOD — SAME  OLD   STORY. 

Sometimes  lately,  Joseph  Wood  came  home 
with  money  in  his  possession,  and  his  wife  was 
at  a  loss  to  know  how  he  had  come  by  it.  He 
would  not  tell  her.  She  began  to  suspect  that  he 
got  it  in  some  gambling  game.  When  that  was 
suggested,  he  stammered  out  something  like, 
"Well,  whose  business  is  it?" 

Then  it  would  just  as  mysteriously  disappear, 
which  seemed  to  confirm  the  gambling  theory, 
and  he  wanted  her  to  believe  it. 

One  day  he  lay  sleeping  upon  the  couch,  after 
imbibing  rather  freely  and  some  coins  were 
about  to  roll  out  of  his  pocket.  Annie  investi- 
gated the  amount  he  had,  and  put  it  away  to  help 
pay  the  rent,  soon  due,  knowing  well  that  he 
could  not  hold  on  to  the  six  dollars  very  long. 
So  soon  as  he  woke,  he  went  over  to  the  saloon 
to  get  a  drink,  for  he  was  miserably  thirsty  for 
it. 

He  came  immediately  back  and  looked  on  the 
couch,  under  it  and  sat  down  to  think  the  mys- 
terious disappearance  over.  Turning  to  her,  he 
asked, 

"Annie,  did  you  take  money  out  of  my  pocket 
this  afternoon?" 


IRENE   LISCOMB  229 

Not  wishing  to  lie  outright,  she  acknowledged 
it,  begging  him  to  let  her  keep  it  to  pay  off  the 
rent  or  other  debts  of  which  she  began  an  enu- 
meration. 

"Give  it  to  me!"  he  demanded  roughly. 
"Can't  a  man  have  a  little  money  'thout  his  wife 
goin'  through  his  pockets,  I'd  like  to  know ! 
Give  me  that  money !" 

She  essayed  coaxing,  "Please  Joseph,  leave 
most  of  it  here;  you  know  how  pickpockets  rob 
people  in  Chicago." 

He  knew  she  meant  the  idle  hangers-on  of 
saloons ;  and  he  felt  smart  enough  for  that  gang ! 
He  was  pretty  rich  to-day;  hadn't  had  so  much 
cold  cash  for  a  long  time;  was  consequently 
brave ! 

"Where's  that  money?    Give  it  hereP' 

Annie  went  to  the  bureau  and  got  all  of  it 
but  a  dollar  for  him.  He  was  cunning  enough 
to  suspect  her  and  growled  out:  "You've  kept 
half  of  it!" 

He  went  out,  banging  the  door  very  hard  this 
time,  and  muttering: 

"You  danged  rebel's  brat!  I'll  get  even  with 
you,  I'll  bet  you!" 

Turning  to  go  to  her  work  again,  she  caught 
a  glimpse  of  herself  in  the  mirror,  as  she  passed 
it,  and  she  angrily  addressed  it,  menacingly  al- 
most, in  fact. 

"And  you  pity  and  live  with  such  a  man,  An- 
nie Miller?" 

The  old  answer,  always  ready  for  the  drunk- 
ard's wife,  seemed  to  hiss  back  at  her  in  derision, 

"How  are  you  going  to  help  it?     Say,  who 


230  IRENE   LISCOMB 

will  take  you  and  your  child,  and  your  pending 
woes  now?" 

"Sure  enough!  Sure  enough,  who?"  she  re- 
sponded aloud  to  the  taunt,  and  settled  down 
again  to  her  sewing.  Endeavoring,  with  might 
and  main,  to  be  patient  a  while  longer,  but  al- 
ways thinking,  dreading  the  horrible  risk  of  her 
life  before  her,  from  which  there  was  no  turning 
back!  And  which  risk  might  leave  her  darling, 
beautiful  daughter  an  orphan.  Ah,  worse  than  a 
full  orphan ! 

"God,  help  me!  God  help  me!"  she  was  al- 
ways praying.  There  seemed  none  other  now, 
and  surely  He  would  hear  her !  "But  his  laws 
are  unalterable;  it  may  be,  He  cannot!"  She 
doubted  if  she  could  be  patient  much  longer. 
But  for  the  little  girl,  she  would  not  try.  She 
would  die!  A  very  strong  temptation  crossed 
her  mind. 

The  little  four-year-old  in  the  other  room  was 
very  busy,  with  the  forbidden  scissors  in  her 
hand,  cutting  to  tiny  bits  the  last  new  fashion 
plates,  priceless  treasures  of  the  wretched  ama- 
teur dressmaker,  her  mother,  in  the  front  room. 
It  was  fine  fun  for  the  lonely  child. 

Mrs.  Wood  was  planning  while  she  worked. 
Her  last  scheme  was  to  take  an  apprentice  to 
dressmaking,  though  she  herself  was  but  a 
novice  at  the  very  difficult  business.  The  little 
widow  down  stairs  soon  got  one  for  her,  be- 
sides a  better  seamstress,  to  help  finish  the  accu- 
mulated work  on  hand. 

With  the  new  help,  the  last  of  the  work  was 
soon  finished,  and  sent  to  the  room  below.  Now 


IRENE   LISCOMB  231 

the  dull  time  for  dressmaking  had  come,  and 
Annie  was  glad  of  the  relief,  for  she  had  a  large 
order  already  in  for  a  bride's  linens.  Dainty 
thin  linen,  thicker  linen,  laces  and  embroideries. 
Annie  excelled  at  such  work,  and  she  was  greatly 
prepossessed  with  the  beautiful  bride. 

"White  work"  did  not  pay  so  well  as  dress- 
making, but  for  exhausted  sight  and  senses  it 
was  certainly  a  good  thing  for  Annie  Wood; 
and  the  bride  had  acquiesced  in  the  extraordi- 
nary price  the  widow  had  proposed,  in  her  real 
ignorance  of  the  usual  rates.  She  was  learning 
business  methods  rapidly.  She  soon  caught  on 
to  the  fact  that  some  women  like  to  be  gouged, 
and  soon  had  a  rich  and  reckless  clientele.  De- 
lightful indeed! 

Mrs.  Wood  was  unfortunately  afflicted  with  a 
felon  on  the  forefinger  of  her  right  hand,  which 
made  difficult  work.  Being  so  awkward,  with 
it  poulticed  up,  one  morning  she  had  given  it 
an  awful  and  painful  blow.  Before  she  could 
quiet  the  pain,  the  bride-to-be  came  in  to  try  on 
the  garments  that  were  ready.  Alas,  they  had 
to  be  altered!  That  meant  a  lot  of  work,  and 
that  throbbing  finger  was  already  setting  the 
miserable  Annie  wild.  She  wept,  much  to  her 
embarrassment,  from  the  discouragement  she 
felt  at  the  loss  of  time  that  implied,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  pain  she  was  undergoing  in  the  pro- 
cess of  fitting  the  garments. 

The  lovely  bride-to-be  stepped  up  to  her,  and 
putting  her  arm  around  her,  her  face  near  to 
hers,  said  to  her  softly  and  kindly: 

"Don't  worry,  Mrs.  Wood.    I  shall  make  the 


232  IRENE   LISCOMB 

price  up  to  you  in  the  final  bill.  I  have  always 
seen  that  you  were  a  lady,  and  you  have  had  my 
particular  sympathy  since  I  met  you.  I  under- 
stand your  situation  perfectly.  Let  me  tell  you 
something.  I  sewed  for  two  years,  and  know 
how  hard  it  is.  I  should  be  sewing  for  my  living 
to-day,  but  for  a  decision  of  the  courts  which 
gave  me  a  large  property,  once  decided  against 
me.  So  you  see,  I  comprehended  the  accidents  of 
life  that  render  it  hard  or  easy  for  women,  don't 
you  see  it?" 

"Ah,  yes!  The  game  of  life  is  a  chance  game 
indeed,  I  know  it  well!  I  thank  you  for  your 
kind  words,"  said  Annie,  loving  her  exceed- 
ingly. She  seemed  the  most  lovable,  beautiful 
person  she  had  ever  met.  Annie  went  on  with 
the  tedious  work  with  a  ligther  heart.  "If  only 
all  rich  women  were  so  sensible,  so  very  thought- 
ful, so  kind !"  she  kept  thinking,  "why  the  world 
would  not  seem  so  dreary  to  working  people !" 

The  dainty  bridal  suits  were  at  last  finished; 
the  price  paid  in,  and  alas,  immediately  paid  out, 
on  bills  long  due!  The  arbiter  of  the  beautiful 
things  having  a  few  minutes,  took  up  a  newspa- 
per to  see  if  anything  specially  interesting  had 
occurred  in  the  last  few  days,  when  she  was 
rushing  the  last  pieces  through.  It  was  to  her  a 
rare  treat  to  be  able  to  read  a  bit.  This  paper 
had  been  brought  to  the  house  wrapped  about 
some  laundry  work  and  Annie  had  put  it  aside 
for  her  leisure  moments. 

Scanning  the  first  page  she  saw,  she  was 
vastly  surprised  to  see  her  own  name  in  the  list 
of  the  uncalled  for  letters  of  the  previous  week. 


IRENE  LISCOMB  233 

She  meant  to  send  the  apprentice  girl  for  it,  but 
learned  that  she  would  better  call  for  it  herself. 

Making  the  long  street  car  journey,  she  ner- 
vously hastened  to  the  Post  Office,  to  find  that 
she  must  be  identified  by  some  one  known  at  the 
office. 

"That  is  the  rule,  madam!"  and  the  clerk 
turned  away  from  the  delivery  window. 

Greatly  disappointed,  she  was  considering 
what  a  vexatious  long  time  it  would  yet  be  be- 
fore she  could  find  out  where  the  letter  came 
from  and  what  it  contained.  By  this  time  she 
was  standing  by  a  show  window  of  a  notion 
store,  and  noticing  some  thimbles  there,  was  in- 
spired with  the  thought  that  her  thimble  with 
her  name  engraved  upon  it  might  identify  her 
— only — "if" — she  was  nervously  seeking  it — 
"yes,  I  have  it."  It  was  sufficient  evidence,  and 
the  clerk  laughed  at  her  timid  anxiety. 

"O,  I  can  never  wait  to  get  home  before  I 
read  this  letter,  for  it  is  from  the  old  home  town, 
South.  Looking  about  for  a  suitable  place  to 
read  it,  she  stepped  into  a  quiet  little  chocolate 
stand  and  ordered  a  cup.  She  lost  no  time  in 
opening  the  letter.  Sipping  some  of  the  choco- 
late, she  unfolded  the  letter.  Ah!  it  was  writ- 
ten in  an  unfamiliar  hand,  and  a  well  remem- 
bered law  firm's  name  was  at  the  top  corners.  It 
commenced : 

"DEAR  MADAM  : — 

"This  is  to  inform  you  that  two  hundred  dol- 
lars have  been  turned  over  to  us  for  you.  It  is 
your  share  of  the  residue  of  your  late  parents' 


234  IRENE   LISCOMB 

much    encumbered    estate.      The    check    for    it 
awaits  your  order. 

"Very  truly, 

" JONES  &  JOHNSON." 

Annie  Miller  Wood  sat  dumbfounded  at  the 
news,  forgetting  chocolate  and  everything  else 
in  the  world,  but  that  the  parents  were  dead! 
"Yes,  they've  been  dead  over  two  years,  or  the 
estate  could  not  have  all  been  settled.  I  suppose 
those  mortgages  hurried  the  settlement."  A 
waiter  was  now  moving  near  her  and  asked 
quietly,  "Anything  else,  madam?" 

She  understood  that  to  mean  "We  would  like 
the  table,  madam,"  and  swallowed  the  chocolate, 
for  her  throat  was  very  dry. 

There  was  deep  regret  in  Annie's  heart  over 
the  death  of  her  parents !  They  had  cast  her  off, 
to  be  sure,  and  had  long  been  dead  to  her.  She 
had  never  indulged  in  bitterness  towards  them. 
Exactly  like  them,  she  had  been  gifted  with  stub- 
bornness and  strong  self  will.  Doubtless  she 
would  have  overcome  these  traits  and  sought  a 
reconciliation  if  her  husband  had  been  other  than 
what  they  had  been  so  certain  he  would  become. 

"Alas,  the  estrangement  was  now  beyond 
reconciliation!"  and  Annie  grieved  over  it  sadly. 
She  did  not  see  Joseph  that  evening,  and  re- 
solved to  keep  the  day's  revelations  to  herself. 
She  should  need  money  too  badly  this  spring  to 
risk  losing  it  through  him. 

He  did  not  question  by  what  means  the  bill  of 
fare  had  been  improved.  The  table  did  not 
bother  him,  anyhow,  for  he  drank  at  saloons 


IRENE   Lisrn™B  235 

where  a  lunch  could  be  eaten  with  every  drink  a 
man  bought,  "and  the  family  could  skirmish," 
so  far  as  he  cared. 

"It'll  do  'em  good  to  forage,  you  see!"  he 
thought  many  a  time  to  himself. 

He  took  his  usual  outing  now  and  then  to  an- 
other part  of  the  city  "to  git  away  from  her 
eternal  nagging,"  he  said,  where  he  had  a  day 
or  two  of  immense  pleasure  with  congenial  peo- 
ple— till  his  money  was  exhausted.  Then  he  dis- 
covered- they  were  not  visible  to  him,  and  he 
sneaked  back  home  till  he  could  make  another 
raise  of  coin.  At  such  returns  he  appeared 
deeply  dejected  in  spirits,  because,  as  he  an- 
nounced, "just  missed  a  fine  opportunity !" 

Annie  was  fortunate  enough  to  receive  the  two 
hundred  dollar  check  from  the  South  one  day 
while  he  was  away,  and  put  it  in  a  nearby  sav- 
ing's bank  to  use  as  she  herself  should  find  need 
of  it.  She  began  on  it  very  soon,  too. 

On  returning  from  one  of  these  "business  ab- 
sences"— a  rather  prolonged  one,  he  found  what 
he  hoped  to  find — the  expected  event  over!  A 
nurse  was  in  his  rooms.  The  apprenticed  girl, 
glad  to  be  earning  money  in  the  dull  season  of 
dressmaking,  was  installed  cook  and  companion 
to  the  little  daughter. 

She  had  decoyed  the  child,  along  with  one  or 
two  of  the  others  down  stairs,  to  the  park,  where 
they  were  to  pass  the  day.  A  well  filled  dinner 
basket  was  taken  along,  and  some  change  lay 
hidden  in  the  apprenticed  girl's  pocket  to  buy 
sweets  and  sodas  or  lemonade  at  the  stands  near 


236  IRENE  LISCOMB 

by,  when  the  interests  of  the  little  ones  should 
begin  to  lag  in  the  after  part  of  the  long  day. 

Banging  the  door  shut,  Joseph  Wood  came 
and  stood  by  the  bed  of  his  exhausted  and  sleep- 
ing wife.  His  face  was  white  as  marble,  with  an 
air  of  grave  solemnity  and  respectful  anxiety! 
She  slept  on,  to  all  appearances.  The  nurse  pre- 
pared him  some  coffee  and  toast,  and  while  he 
partook  of  it,  related  to  him: 

"The  baby  that  came  last  night  to  you  was  a 
son,  and  has  been  carried  out  to  Graceland  but 
a  couple  hours  ago!" 

He  finished  his  luncheon  in  apparent  sorrow 
over  the  loss  of  another  son;  looked  in  at  his 
seemingly  somnolent  wife  for  a  moment,  and  re- 
tired to  his  usual  afternoon  slumber  in  the  par- 
lor. 

Annie  was  very  nervous,  very  feverish  for  sev- 
eral days,  and  the  nurse  and  the  physician  were 
anxious  about  her. 

The  novelty  of  the  park  was  beginning  to  pall 
upon  the  children.  They  had  ridden  in  other 
children's  carts,  whose  acquaintance  they  had 
made  that  day;  eaten  luncheon  often  and  often. 
They  had  played  "driving  horse"  with  the  white 
cotton  strings  the  apprentice  had  got  out  of  Mrs. 
Wood's  rag  bag  before  starting  on  their  outing 
to  the  park. 

Their  caretaker  was  tired  enough  of  her  un- 
dertaking, and  was  feeling  about  as  irritable  as 
her  charges,  when  the  little  Wood  girl  began 
screaming  and  kicking  with  might  and  main. 
The  widow's  child  coming  near  at  the  moment 


IRENE  LISCOMB  237 

approached  her  little  friend  with  the  remnant 
of  her  apple  which  she  held  out  to  her.  "Go 
way,  I'll  scratch  you!"  and  she  promptly  did  it, 
with  zealous  hand. 

"I  want  to  go  home!  I  want  my  mamma!" 
and  she  screamed  sharply,  by  this  time  beside 
herseff  with  rage.  "I  will  go  home !  I  want  my 
mamma!  Go  way,  you  mean  old  girl!  I  hate 
you,  too!  The  widow's  daughter  was  now 
screeching  with  anger. 

This  last  was  addressed  to  the  girl,  who  was 
dragging  her  along  towards  the  lemonade  stand. 
The  man  at  the  stand  prepared  the  drinks,  and 
also  laid  the  nickle's  worth  of  candy  out  in  a 
very  attractive  pile  where  he  knew  the  little  ones 
would  see  it.  That  beautiful  candy  and  the 
three  glasses  of  lemonade  soon  tranquilized  the 
hasty  temper  and  throbbing  hearts  of  the  chil- 
dren. Baby  Wood  offered  one  of  her  bits  of 
sweets  to  the  little  friend,  as  a  flag  of  truce ;  the 
other  took  it,  though  she  had  plenty  of  her  own, 
to  confirm  the  declaration  of  peace,  and  hostili- 
ties ended.  Their  caretaker  was  embarrassed  by 
the  noisy  affair,  especially  when  she  heard  a  po- 
liceman of  the  park  say  to  the  lemonade  man 
who  had  restored  peace, 

"Give  sis  one  scratch  for  luck,  huh?" 
"Reckon  that's  right — pretty  spunky." 
"Didn't  spike  that  kid's  lemonade,  did  ye?" 
banteringly  suggested  the  "cop." 

"The  gal  don't  need  extry  sperrits.  She'll 
make  the  fur  fly  when  she's  big  enough,  I 
betcher."  They  both  soon  forgot  the  little  fight, 


238  IRENE  LISCOMB 

slyly  commenting  on  the  combatant's  pretty 
caretaker,  and  she  was  happy  to  have  quieted 
the  little  ones.  "O,  I  wush  I  could  go  home 
right  now!"  she  was  thinking. 


IRENE   LISCOMB  239 


XXV. 

NEW   TRIALS HOME   TO   DIE. 

The  long,  long  sleep  that  held  the  tired  senses 
of  Annie  Miller  Wood,  after  the  hours  of  untold 
suffering  and  battle  with  death,  was  a  merciful 
tonic.  But  a  fever  and  delirium  had  been  pres- 
ent part  of  the  time  before  this  quiet  sleep  had 
set  in,  and  the  nurse  dreaded  the  awakening. 
There  might  be  a  moment's  half  consciousness, 
and  then  death  might  follow  this  last  shock  of 
struggling  life!  So  she  and  the  physician  and 
his  wife  were  alert  to  the  slightest  noticeable 
change  in  the  patient. 

The  little  daughter  was  made  to  believe  that 
"mamma  is  uptown  yet,"  and  kept  down  stairs 
with  the  widow's  children  several  days.  But 
when  the  apprenticed  girl  and  new  cook  found 
a  bit  of  leisure,  she  escorted  them  all  over  to  the 
park.  The  two  belligerents  of  the  first  outing 
had  learned  the  limitations  of  each  other's  for- 
bearance, and  there  was  no  more  kicking  and 
screaming  if  a  difference  of  opinion  occurred  be- 
tween them.  A  quick  jerk  of  a  dress  and  a  rush 
to  the  caretaker  ended  the  matter,  till  something 
else  attracted  them. 

The  doctor's  wife  managed  to  be  present, 
along  with  the  widow  and  nurse,  when  the  long 


240  IRENE   LISCOMB 

sleep  ended.  They  knew  it  was  near  the  end  by 
the  fading  out  of  all  bloom  from  the  sick  one's 
face  and  the  lowering  temperature  and  slowing 
pulse.  So  when  her  eyes  opened,  they  were 
kindly  met  by  joyful  smiles  and  greetings. 

"Well,  Mrs.  Wood,  you've  had  a  long,  refresh- 
ing sleep,  I'm  sure  you're  better,"  said  the  doc- 
tor's wife,  shifting  the  pillows. 

"Thank  you,  I  believe  I  am  better,"  said  An- 
nie as  the  nurse  held  a  cup  of  chicken  broth  to 
her  lips  with  a  tube  in  it,  and  was  delighted  to 
note  that  she  seemed  to  relish  it  and  look 
brighter  for  it. 

The  convalescence  was  slow;  good  days  were 
followed  by  bad  days  for  some  time.  Days  of 
quiet  were  for  Annie  too  heavenly!  It  was  so 
perfectly  sublime  to  lie  abed  and  rest,  and  not 
even  think!  It  was  so  fine  to  know  that  one  has 
money  to  pay  for  this  enforced  leisure,  a  thing 
that  could  not  have  been  possible  to  her  but  for 
that  check  from  the  law  firm,  South. 

The  comfort  that  her  parents  could  not  know 
of  her  misfortunes  now  was  stealing  into  her 
resigned  soul !  Though  she  was  yet  sadly  mind- 
ful that  they  were  gone  forever ! 

But  O,  the  joy  at  being  able  again  to  read ! 
Such  long,  long  years  had  passed  since  she  dared 
take  a  half  day  for  reading!  Not  even  on  the 
blessed  Sabbath  had  she  dared  to  read  anything, 
but  a  dressmaker's  column  or  so !  and  that  only 
because  on  the  morrow  a  difficult  dress  had  to 
be  devised  and  cut  out. 

At  last  she  could  embroider  a  bit,  so  she  fin- 
ished a  piece  that  a  liberal  customer  had  told  her, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  241 

"No  hurry;  take  your  time."  Now  that  time 
license  had  expired,  and  the  dainty  bit  had  to 
be  finished.  Then  her  darling  child  had  to  be 
furnished  with  a  summer  outfit.  All  her  dresses 
were  outgrown  or  worn  out.  The  old  hurry  was 
quietly  but  surely  insinuating  itself  into  her  life. 
The  two  hundred  dollars  were  about  exhausted. 
Just  a  few  remained  of  it!  Before  she  had  quite 
got  into  her  break-neck  speed,  in  her  race-for-life 
gait,  of  care  and  work,  the  doctor's  wife  brought 
a  charming  friend  of  hers  to  talk  about  having 
German  lessons  with  Mrs.  Wood,  and  to  take 
her  out  for  a  little  airing,  as  she  said. 

They  drove  all  the  six  mile  drive  out  to  Grace- 
land.  The  tiny  unnamed  son  had  been  buried  in 
the  same  grave  with  the  first  one,  for  they  had 
bought  one  grave  there.  The  doctor's  wife  had 
brought  many  flowers  from  her  home,  and  now 
gave  them  to  Annie  for  the  grave  of  her  two  dear 
little  sons. 

Annie  Miller  Wood  inhaled  the  gloriously 
fresh  air  with  great  joy!  She  felt  as  if  her 
lungs  could  never  get  enough  of  it.  Everything 
she  passed  in  the  long  drive  took  on  an  exagger- 
ated magnificence  and  beauty  that  she  had  never 
before  noticed  in  them! 

Really  she  did  not  remember,  in  the  delightful 
present,  what  a  very  little  of  the  city  she  had 
ever  seen  under  any  condition.  Her  days  in  the 
West  had  been  long  days  of  toil,  not  half  long 
enough  for  the  insupportable  burdens  she  had 
had  to  carry  through  them. 

Oh,  she  inhaled  the  sweet,  the  blessed  air  in 
great  draughts!  It  was  so  good  to  be  able  to 


242  IRENE  LISCOMB 

be  out  again  in  the  heavenly  sunshine.  Ah,  and 
she  loved  the  sweet  woman  who  had  given  her 
this  unspeakable  pleasure !  She  spoke  little  dur- 
ing the  drive  home.  She  was  too  happy. 

Her  sublime  ecstacy  reminded  her  of  the  very 
same  feelings  expressed  by  Mary  Stuart,  when 
she  had  been  brought  into  the  garden  of  Fother- 
ingay  Castle  to  meet  Queen  Elizabeth,  after  her 
years  and  years  imprisonment.  She  could  have 
easily  shouted  out  the  very  same  words  that  the 
luckless  Queen  had  uttered,  with  her  eyes 
towards  the  blue  heavens,  so  long  shut  away 
from  her. 

The  ladies  in  the  carriage  noted  her  ecstatic 
countenance,  and  quietly  respected  her  emotions, 
without  in  the  least  being  able  to  comprehend 
their  depths  and  the  reason  for  them.  Air  and 
sunshine  were  such  every  day,  commonplace 
things,  how  could  they  understand  several  years' 
dearth  of  them  to  the  woman  beside  them!  They 
had  time,  every  day,  to  drive  out.  They  had 
houses  with  verandas,  and  air  and  light  in  plenty 
from  many  windows. 

Reluctantly  she  left  the  carriage  on  arriving 
home,  to  climb  the  narrow,  suffocating  stairway 
leading  to  narrow  and  more  suffocating  rooms. 
But  she  had  promised  the  doctor's  wife  to  try 
to  take  an  hour's  walk  and  fresh  air  in  the  near- 
by park  every  day,  and  fully  believed  she  might 
make  it  possible  for  herself  and  the  child. 

In  the  parlor  her  husband  was  awaiting  sup- 
per. Annie's  reputation,  as  an  extraordinarily 
good  and  reliable  dressmaker  spread  rapidly,  and 
she  soon  had  a  select  clientele.  Select,  because 


IRENE   LISCOMB  243 

the  widow  knew  how,  by  extravagant  charges,  to 
keep  away  the  poorer  class  of  customers.  The 
dressmaker  now  found  she  could  not  do  her 
cooking  and  housework  with  her  increased  sew- 
ing. The  clever  widow,  always  obliging,  and 
with  an  eye  on  any  dollar  she  could  lure  her  way, 
proposed  to  give  a  plain  midday  meal  to  the 
Wood  family,  as  she  now  kept  a  cook. 

So  it  was  accepted,  at  a  reasonable  honorarium. 
Joseph  Wood  was  always  a  courteous  person,  no 
matter  to  what  condition  drink  had  brought  him, 
this  happy  trait  of  his  character  always  re- 
mained. Talk,  or  as  he  termed  it,  "chatter,"  was 
not  his  "forte,"  so  the  precise  state  of  his  mind 
was  seldom  rashly  revealed.  This  trait  owed  its 
origin  in  a  very  short  and  constrained  tongue, 
generally  known  as  "tongue-tied,"  as  much  as  to 
the  very  silent  family  of  his  ancestors.  A  very 
safe  and  fortunate  inheritance ! 

Annie  slept  well  the  night  after  her  outing. 
Indeed  insomnia  had  had  a  peremptory  check  in 
the  month's  enforced  indulgence  in  sleep  she  had 
just  passed  through.  As  a  result,  she  again  took 
up  her  work  with  a  lighter  heart  than  she  had 
ever  brought  to  it  before.  She  had  become  more 
familiar  with  the  troublesome  complexities  of  the 
business  now,  therefore  got  on  better  with  it. 

She  was  glad  to  see  the  cheery  faces  of  cul- 
tured, refined  and  fortunate  women  who  came  to 
her.  And  she  loved  to  handle  the  rich  and  dainty 
fabrics  they  brought  her,  out  of  which  to  create 
exquisite  robes  or  gowns.  She  was  much  the 
vogue  and  complimented  and  told  that  she  was 


244  IRENE   LISCOMB 

certainly  talented  in  her  particular  line  of  busi- 
ness. 

She  did  not  tell  them  that  the  talent  had  been 
developed  through  the  terrible  school  of  over- 
work and  want!  Nor  how  nearly  it  cost  her 
life,  even  now,  to  cater  to  the  different  tastes  of 
different  people.  Patterns  were  hard  to  get  in 
those  days,  and  the  price  an  item  worth  saving, 
so  she  generally  studied  a  fashion  plate  right 
sharply,  and  proceeded  to  cut  it,  with  genius  as 
the  guide. 

The  draped  overskirt  and  polonaise  were  bits 
of  art  work,  very  beautiful  or  very  ugly,  accord- 
ing to  its  successful  or  its  unsuccessful  manipu- 
lation. And  Annie  had  probably  trained  her  eyes 
and  mind  much  in  art  galleries  abroad  in  propor- 
tions, measurements  and  beauty,  however  uncon- 
sciously, without  intention  or  design  towards 
dressmaking. 

Life  was  only  just  begun  then.  Love  and 
hope  were  so  lofty,  so  grand!  They  had  not 
yet  bedraggled  their  snowy  wings  in  the  black 
mire  of  bitter  disappointment,  wrought  by 
Drink ! 

So  passed  the  next  few  years  with  Annie 
Wood.  Sometimes  Joseph  left  off  drink  for  a 
time,  and  tried  various  employments.  Tried 
hard!  But  the  drink  habit  was  too  well  estab- 
lished in  his  weak  nature  to  assure  reform  to 
his  unhappy  and  ruined  life!  He  fell  before  the 
demon  temptation  so  often  that,  discouraged,  he 
finally  gave  it  up,  and  with  one  unhappy  "grand 
drunk,"  which  disabled  him  for  the  rest  of  his 


IREJ/E   LISCOMB  245 

days   on    earth,    never    even    attempted    reform 
again ! 

During  these  later  years,  there  came  other  dis- 
agreeable experiences  into  the  life  of  the  luck- 
less Annie  Wood!  The  first  one  was  when  she 
tried  to  take  the  hour's  recreation  every  day,  as 
she  had  promised  the  doctor's  wife.  She  cer- 
tainly felt  much  refreshed  to  drop  her  tedious 
work  and  hurry  into  the  fresh  air  for  one  glori- 
ously free  hour.  She  was  punctual  and  con- 
scientious in  her  observance  of  it. 

With  her  little  one,  who  also  badly  needed 
the  outing,  she  always  hastened  to  the  nearest 
park.  After  a  few  mornings  she  saw  that  a 
gamy  looking  chap,  with  a  cane,  a  high  hat,  and 
plaid  trousers,  was  making  the  same  tour,  at  the 
same  hour  she  made  hers  every  day. 

She  noted,  too,  that  he  was  constantly  using 
his  handkerchief,  suspiciously  like  she  had 
heard  people  of  a  certain  class  did  in  flirtation's 
converse.  She  felt  uncomfortable ;  and  further 
on  she  also  noted  that  two  other  young  men  were 
watching  her,  and  this  curiously  behaved  creat- 
ure. 

She  took  the  little  girl  by  the  hand,  and  went 
further  into  the  park,  and  out  at  another  gate 
into  the  street.  She  met  the  trio  in  the  street ; 
their  ill  concealed,  smirking  smiles,  as  they  im- 
pudently looked  at  her,  made  her  very  unhappy. 

She  did  not  go  out  the  next  day,  but  the  fol- 
lowing one  hastened  out,  very  much  needing  her 
"walk  and  air  remedy,"  as  she  regarded  it.  And 
again  saw  the  plaid  trousered  man.  He  showed 
plainly  that  he  felt  flattered  at  seeing  her,  believ- 


246  IRENE   LISCOMB 

ing  she  had  come  purposely  to  meet  him!  He 
was  delighted. 

She  always  endeavored  not  to  see  him,  which 
he  construed  into  a  pretty  bit  of  coquetry.  She 
was  truly  embarrassed. 

"How  the  mischief  has  this  thing  come  about, 
I  should  like  to  know !  I  have  not  done  the 
slightest  imprudent  thing!"  and  Annie  took  the 
child  out  of  the  park. 

She  had  not  the  slightest  notion  that  she  was 
attractive  enough  to  be  followed  about,  as  were 
some  beautiful  women  she  had  read  of,  and  was 
positive  she  had  done  no  thoughtless,  imprudent 
thing.  She  felt  offended  and  alarmed. 

She  told  the  experiences  to  the  widow.  She 
advised  remaining  away  from  the  park  and  off 
the  street  a  week  or  so,  for  some  gossiping 
women  in  their  quarter  were  already  saying 
when  Annie  started  out  for  her  walk,  "See!  the 
dressmaker  is  going  to  the  park  to  meet  her 
beau,"  for  they  had  seen  the  interest  the  tall  hat 
man  was  taking  in  her  movements. 

"But  why  does  the  man  act  so?"  asked  Annie, 
ashamed  and  vexed. 

"Well,  Mrs.  Wood,  there  are  a  lot  of  loafers 
over  there  at  that  saloon,"  and  she  pointed  at 
the  one  diagonally  across  from  them,  "who  have 
had  their  eyes  on  you  for  a  long  time.  They  say 
you're  too  nice  to  have  married  Joseph  Wood, 
and  that  you  hain't  his  wife,  mebbe!  So  they 
have  made  up  their  minds  to  find  you  out.  They 
say  you're  too  pretty,  too  well  educated  to  have 
hitched  up  with  him,  if  you're  all  right,  and  they 
say  it  may  be  that  you're  a  little  'fly'  is  the  reason 


IRENE   LISCOMB  247 

he  drinks.  'See!  Just  stay  out  of  reach  of  'em. 
Don't  go  to  the  park  any  more.  It's  my  brother 
who  was  with  t'other  young  man  you  saw, 
a-watching  to  see  Mr.  Tallhat  get  snubbed,  and 
I  reckon  they're  perfectly  satisfied  now!" 

While  the  women  talked  in  the  business  room 
down  stairs  the  man  under  discussion  passed 
along  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  using 
his  handkerchief  rather  prominently,  as  usual. 
Wiping  his  mouth,  then  shaking  it  out  and  touch- 
ing his  eyes  with  it.  The  widow  drew  back  out 
of  sight  and  laughingly  said  to  Mrs.  Wood : 

"See,  he  means  he  is  weeping  for  a  sight  of 
you!  Poor  thing!"  and  she  laughed  outright, 
till  he  had  reluctantly  passed  on,  lightly  tapping 
his  cane  on  the  sidewalk.  Both  women  were 
thinking  that  he  was  growing  very  bold  and  im- 
pertinent, and  wondered  what  they  ought  to  do. 

Annie  burst  out  crying,  and  was  very  angry, 
hurt  and  mortified.  "Whatever  can  I  do  ?  What 
imprudent  thing  have  I  done?" 

"What  ever  can  you  do?"  said  the  widow. 
"Git  a  divorce,  that's  what!  and  that  is  the  very 
easiest  thing  in  all  the  world  to  do.  I  would  not 
live  twenty-four  hours  with  any  drunken  bloat 
the  Lord  ever  made !" 

"O,  please  don't  talk  about  it !  Don't  you  know 
if  I  got  a  divorce  from  my  husband  it  would 
only  be  putting  a  stone  into  the  hands  of  the 
crazy  mob  with  which  they  could  better  kill  me? 
No,  no,  I  shall  not  ask  for  a  divorce.  I  shall 
plod  along,  doing  the  best  I  can,  leaving  the  re- 
sult in  the  hands  of  the  Lord,"  said  Annie,  weep- 


248  IRENE  LISCOMB 

ing  hysterically.  "But  I  wish  I  were  already 
dead !" 

"Now,  Mrs.  Wood,  don't  take  on  so!  It  is 
darkest  just  before  the  dawn,  you  know.  And 
you've  got  such  lovely  friends;  such  nice  cus- 
tomers !  Don't  mind  a  few  blackguards !  Why, 
one  of  my  dear  lost  husband's  friends,  a  married 
man,  used  to  be  urging  favors  on  me,  with  an  air 
as  if  saying,  'You  understand,  my  dear.'  Well, 
I  couldn't  stand  his  meanness  any  longer.  So 
one  day  he  was  slyly  doing  this  insinuating  trick, 
and  I  turned  on  him  in  his  wife's  presence  and 
yelled  out,  'Jim  Work,  you're  the  nastiest  beast 
I  ever  met !'  You  may  be  sure  he  hated  me,  but 
he  let  me  alone  after  that,  forever!  So  did  his 
silly  wife,  for  he  fixed  the  matter  with  her,  by 
saying  that  I  wanted  to  blackmail  him!" 

A  few  days'  attention  to  her  difficult  work,  and 
the  friendly  considerations  of  these  worthy  cus- 
tomers, soon  cleared  away  her  humiliation,  and 
sunshine  broke  out  from  behind  the  clouds.  She 
had  been  strengthened  by  her  trial.  But  her 
health  was  giving  out,  and  she  had  not  money 
nor  time  for  a  vacation.  Again  was  that  night- 
mare of  insomnia  threatening  her! 

Providentially  perhaps,  a  letter  from  Joseph's 
mother  reached  them,  after  a  tour  of  search  for 
them  in  the  city,  entreating  them  to  come  back 
to  York  State,  to  her,  at  the  old  home.  And  with 
it,  another  letter  from  Joseph's  cousin  Alice, 
Ned's  wife,  from  the  South.  The  last  one  con- 
tained fifty  dollars  to  assist  them  to  reach  his 
mother,  who  she  had  heard  was  very  feeble,  and 
desired  to  see  Joseph  once  more.  Alice  had  got 


IRENE    LISCOMB  249 

their  place  of  residence  by  the  merest  chance 
from  Jones  &  Johnson,  Attorneys. 

To  say  they  were  glad  to  return  East  would 
not  half  tell  the  delight  they  felt!  They  could 
hardly  wait  for  Alice  to  finish  the  beautiful  crea- 
tion she  was  constructing  for  a  rather  swell  wed- 
ding on  the  West  Side.  They  wrote  that  they 
were  coming  home  very  soon,  and  the  hope  it 
inspired  in  the  failing  old  mother,  doubtless, 
kept  her  alive  a  little  longer. 

Ah,  she  loved  her  son  Joseph!  And  never 
knew  half  his  shortcomings.  He  had  neglected 
her,  to  be  sure,  but  of  course  there  must  have 
been  letters  lost  between  them,  and  he  was  com- 
ing home  now ! 

It  was  a  sad  homecoming!  The  patient,  good 
old  mother  lived  but  a  very  few  days.  She 
seemed  pleased  to  hold  her  hands  on  her  little 
granddaughter's  head,  muttering  loving  bless- 
ings. She  could  hardly  let  Joseph  out  of  her 
sight  a  moment;  her  grand  boy,  who  once  was 
so  handsome  in  the  beautiful  uniform  of  his  be- 
loved country !  His  present  appearance  was,  of 
course,  caused  by  a  cold  and  travel! 

"When  the  light  went  out  of  her  fine  old  eyes, 
she  still  had  them  turned  towards  him,  and  the 
fast  palsying  hands  sought  his  swollen,  ner- 
vously trembling  ones.  So  was  finished  the 
drama  of  life  for  one  who  laid  Henry  on  the 
sacrificial  altar  of  her  loved  country's  mistakes! 

She  was  laid  beside  the  dear  soldier  boy  one 
evening,  to  sleep  till  the  Resurrection  Morn, 
and  near  her  adored  husband. 

Ex-Lieutenant    Joseph    Wood    followed    his 


250  IRENE   LISCOMB 

mother  in  a  very  few  weeks,  and  was  laid  be- 
side her  and  Henry,  near  the  father,  in  the  town 
of  their  nativity.  All  the  honor  due  an  ex-sol- 
dier's burial  was  shown  by  the  friends  of  his 
youth,  and  the  admirers  of  the  handsome,  patri- 
otic young  man. 

Annie  was  long  an  invalid.  But  the  quiet  of 
the  dear  little  rustic  home,  now  hers,  and  the 
goodness  of  these  new  friends  brought  her  once 
again  back  to  life;  slowly,  O  so  slowly!  The 
child  grew  to  strength  and  comeliness  at  once, 
and  was  a  comfort  to  the  tried  mother. 

Soon  a  rumor,  then  some  papers  with  the  seal 
of  the  United  States  on  them,  reached  Annie 
Miller  Wood,  notifying  her  that  an  accrued  back 
pension  of  a  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  had 
been  secured  her.  Oh,  what  a  boon !  There  was 
a  smaller  one  for  the  child.  Each  would  have 
a  small  monthly  pension;  she  for  life,  tHe  child 
for  a  few  years  yet. 


IRENE   LISCOWB  251 


XXVI. 

SOUTH — PLANTING  IVY. 

The  pension  agent  North  had  secured  a  grant 
of  a  small  pension  for  Henry  Wood's  mother,  it 
being  shown  that  he  would  have  been  her  only 
support  for  her  old  age.  At  the  time  of  her 
death,  the  papers  had  passed  through  the  offices 
at  Washington.  And  the  accrued  amount  made 
a  goodly  sum  for  Mrs.  Wood's  heir,  the  heir  be- 
ing Joseph  Wood's  daughter. 

After  some  months  of  quiet  in  the  cozy  old 
home,  Annie  and  the  child  went  South  to  visit 
her  earlier  friends  and  cousin,  by  her  marriage 
to  Alice's  cousin,  Joseph  Wood.  It  was  truly  a 
pleasant  reunion  with  them.  The  family  enjoyed 
their  old  friend  Annie  ever  so  much  now,  as 
they  had  when  they  met  her  in  London.  There 
were  both  sad  and  pleasant  reminiscences  to  talk 
over.  The  wedding  in  Westminster  and  Ned's 
death.  To  Rene  there  was  one  very  painful  one, 
though  it  was  not  talked  of  at  all. 

It  was  in  London  she  had  heard,  for  just  a 
minute,  the  grand  tenor  voice,  recalling  that  of 
Captain  Budd  Stone,  only  it  showed  more  cul- 
ture, greater  range,  more  pathos.  Yet  it  must 
have  been  his,  she  was  always  thinking,  always 
sure.  So  London — that  word  London  always 


252  IRENE   LISCOMB 

brought  vividly  before  her  the  lover  of  her 
youth,  the  magnificent,  the  handsome  man  and  a 
grand  tenor! 

And  now,  that  the  long  lost  letter  had  been 
found  several  years  ago,  explaining  the  sudden 
desertion  at  the  last  minute,  he  did  not  appear 
so  very  culpable,  and  the  old  love  of  her  youth 
returned.  The  bitterness  of  the  intervening 
years  faded  away  from  the  disappointment,  and 
her  character  was  rounding  out,  gentle  and  ador- 
able, and  she  seemed  more  attractive  now. 

One  day  she  carried  Annie  and  her  child,  in 
the  phaeton,  several  miles  away  to  visit  her  old 
home.  The  house  was  unoccupied,  save  by  an 
old  negro  couple  in  the  south  end  of  the  cook's 
quarters.  It  had  not  been  painted  for  many 
years,  till  one  could  not  say  what  color  it  had 
boasted  in  its  palmy  days.  Annie  wept  as  she 
stood  in  the  well  remembered  rooms  of  her 
childhood,  of  her  youth,  of  life's  first  ambi- 
tions! And  she  remembered  well  the  east 
veranda,  now  rickety  and  fast  crumbling  apart, 
where  she  had  last  seen  her  mother  alive,  as  she 
went  away  to  study  in  Germany.  How  vivid  the 
picture ! 

She  was  overcome  with  her  emotions  and  was 
obliged  to  sit  a  while  on  one  of  the  old  time 
settees  on  the  veranda.  Renewing  the  tour  of 
the  old  mansion,  climbing,  almost,  over  piles  of 
fallen  plaster,  she  started  up  the  front  stairway 
and  at  the  first  landing  came  face  to  face  with 
a  full  length  portrait  of  herself !  The  child  also 
saw  it  and  it  seemed  to  her  to  be  no  stranger, 


IRENE   LISCOMB  253 

for  she  saw  its  like  every  day  in  the  mirror  at 
home.  She  resembled  her  mother. 

She  was  told  that  this  was  her  mother  when 
she  was  a  child.  She  looked  at  the  portrait  and 
at  the  mother  rather  incredulously.  The  old 
presses  in  the  upstairs  apartments  contained 
some  old  hats  and  cast  off  clothing,  some  cloaks 
arid  shoes,  mouldy  and  faded  dresses  that  had  be- 
longed to  her  when  a  child.  Ah,  the  parents  had 
cast  her  off  in  anger,  but  they  could  not  part 
with  these  old  possessions  of  their  headstrong 
and  rebellious  daughter. 

In  the  parents'  room  she  found  a  trunk  she 
recognized  as  the  old  letter  box,  as  they  had 
called  it.  It  had  been  well  rummaged  by  sight- 
seers. She  arranged  for  a  bonfire  of  all  these 
things  afterwards  with  the  late  purchaser  of  the 
property.  Then  she  looked  on  the  frescoes  of 
the  old  parlor,  where  cobwebs  were  filling  the 
corners,  and  the  open  fireplace  was  floored  with 
the  egg  shells  and  debris  of  chimney  swallows' 
nests  of  many  seasons.  The  frescoes  were  not 
badly  faded,  only  in  some  places  the  crumbling 
plaster  had  left  an  eagle  broken  in  two,  or  a  de- 
capitated huntsman  still  aiming  his  fowling  piece 
at  some  game,  in  a  very  awkwardly  painted 
copse  of  trees,  beyond  a  pond  of  water,  red 
tinted  from  the  rising  sun. 

From  the  large  old  plantation  house  they 
drove  to  the  burying  ground  of  the  new  church, 
where  the  parents  had  been  buried,  and  their 
graves  marked  by  an  appropriate  granite  col- 
umn, according  to  their  living  plans.  This  was 
the  end  of  it  all!  And  Annie  sat  long  on  the 


254  IRENE  LISCOMB 

sod  of  the  graves,  repentant  and  sorrowful,  be- 
cause she  had  made  their  last  days,  days  of 
gloom  and  bitterness. 

Arriving  again  at  the  Liscomb  plantation, 
they  found  the  guests  they  were  expecting,  al- 
ready come.  These  were  two  young  ladies  Rene 
had  met  in  Dresden.  They  were  Americans, 
also  from  the  South,  but  refugees  to  Europe  dur- 
ing the  last  years  of  the  Civil  War.  They  lived 
now  in  New  York  with  their  brother's  family. 
He  was  an  important  agent  of  a  cotton  and  to- 
bacco business.  Accomplished  particularly  in 
music  were  these  new  guests.  One  of  them 
sang. 

In  the  evening  they  played  and  sang  to  their 
entertainers  much  of  the  new  and  best  popular 
music. 

The  Cercle,  grown  now  to  be  quite  a  social 
event,  met  next  day  at  the  plantation.  The 
sweet,  sociable  members  quite  charmed  the  New 
York  ladies.  There  was  quite  a  French  colony, 
one  could  imagine,  by  the  animated  chatter  in 
that  language,  sometimes  overtopping  all  other 
sounds. 

It  was  not  long  before  Annie  had  met  all  her 
old  acquaintances  still  living  in  the  South.  She 
loved  this  land  of  her  nativity.  This  land  of 
strong,  spirited,  brave  men  of  character!  This 
land,  whose  war  had  developed  marvellous  char- 
acteristics, even  in  her  women,  now  no  longer 
the  rich  and  helpless  pets  of  society!  But  she 
had  been  weaned  away  from  it  by  a  hard  school ! 
It  was  here  she  had  met  the  robust,  jolly  and 
reckless  Lieutenant,  who  won  her  youth's  first 


IRENE   LISCOMB  255 

love!  Whom  she  had  sought  to  serve  faithfully, 
with  her  inherited  German  traits  of  domestic 
love  of  home  and  family,  hardly  appreciated. 

Sadly  she  saw  and  understood  that  much  as 
the  North  talked  about  the  brotherly  union  of 
the  two  factions  of  the  late  Civil  War,  there  was 
some  poetic  illusion,  a  somewhat  romantic  ardor 
coloring  the  grave  facts.  From  things  she  ob- 
served, and  certainly  not  with  a  prejudiced 
mind,  she  thought  that  but  the  touch,  one  day, 
to  an  overcharged  cloud  of  error,  or  mistake, 
there  would  flash  the  accumulated  prejudices 
into  an  earthquake  of  vastly  more  harm  than  the 
earlier  tempest. 

One  day  they  were  all  out  in  the  air  to  sketch. 
A  small,  dense  thicket  of  wild  plum  trees  stood 
at  one  side  of  a  field  of  cotton.  On  another 
side  were  small  groves  of  young  pines,  cedars, 
persimmons,  oaks  and  some  sassafras.  There 
were  many  species  of  the  oak.  Grape  vines 
reached,  in  great  profusions,  from  tree  to  tree, 
as  if  to  chain  in  the  young  forest  with  their  lux- 
urious growth  of  branches.  Ivy,  poison  ivy, 
draped  the  trunks  of  every  dead  tree,  from  bot- 
tom to  top,  in  the  heavier  and  larger  forest  near 
by. 

The  stony,  red-brown  roads  were  edged  with 
a  tangle  of  plants  and  vines,  among  which  just 
now  predominated  the  graceful  golden  rod.  It 
had  possessed  itself  of  every  bit  of  available 
space  on  hillside,  roadside,  uncultivated  meadow, 
and  in  the  sparse  grass  of  the  large  oak  parks 
about  the  houses.  It  was  in  its  prime  at  this  sea- 


256  IRENE   LISCOMB 

son  of  the  year,  and  its  yellow  was  the  keynote 
of  the  landscape. 

It  was  puzzling  to  know  where  to  begin,  so 
these  amateur  artists  began,  each  according  to 
her  own  special  taste.  The  trees  and  shrubs 
growing  in  an  irregular  line,  away  off  in  the  dis- 
tance marked  the  course  of  a  beautiful  brook, 
that  was  fed  by  friendly,  lively,  little  spring 
branches  along  its  route.  Cool,  because  of  the 
verdure  overlapping  their  waters  most  of  the 
way,  and  also  from  these  springs  from  surpris- 
ing sources. 

They  found  a  tiny  waterfall  of  the  same 
charming  brook,  and  although  it  fell  gradually 
over  two  low  terraces,  it  had  hollowed  out  a 
large,  deep  basin,  the  most  perfect  bathing  re- 
sort in  the  vicinity.  The  sun  had  a  good  chance 
to  keep  its  rather  cold  water  in  just  the  right 
temperature  here.  The  negroes  had  built  many 
a  cabin  above  its  coolest  places,  so  had  delicious 
water  to  use  for  the  simple  dipping  it  up  with 
the  gourds  they  had  grown  in  the  gardens. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  afternoons  the 
guests  and  family  at  Major  Liscomb's  and  the 
young  people  of  the  neighboring  plantations  had 
together  was  when  they  started  for  this  pool. 
Each  was  garbed  in  whatever  fell  to  her  hand  of 
cast  offs  from  her  wardrobe.  So  it  was  the  very 
drollest  procession  of  bathers  eye  ever  beheld! 

Will  Quinell's  little  ones  and  wife  headed  it  as 
chaperones.  It  was  his  assistant  who  helped 
teach  the  ladies  and  children  how  to  swim.  And 
this  man's  inspiration  and  arm  that  threw  small 
dead  pine  trunks  into  the  pool  for  them  to  cling 


IRENE   LISCOMB  257 

to  or  hang  over  in  practicing  the  art.  The  re- 
membrance of  it  caused  them  much  amusement 
for  a  long  time.  The  Major  and  his  wife  en- 
joyed their  capers,  and  even  the  waters,  as  fine 
sport,  and  laughed  over  it  whenever  any  illusion 
was  made  to  "that  time  at  the  pool." 

Alice  and  Rene  were  proud  of  their  amateur 
pictures,  and  the  studio  was  one  of  the  show 
places  at  the  plantation  when  the  maid,  Luce, 
was  inclined  to  put  it  in  order.  Rene  gave  each 
of  the  two  girls  from  New  York  a  spray  of 
acorns  painted  on  canvas  that  they  had  enthusi- 
astically praised.  They  declared  she  could  sell 
hundreds  of  copies  of  it,  if  she  would,  in  the 
city  for  the  Christmas  trade. 

One  afternoon  Alice  was  with  her  Cousin 
Annie  in  the  great  lumbering  swing  under  the 
oaks  in  front  of  the  house,  and  Annie,  in  exuber- 
ance of  spirits,  laid  down  her  magazine  and 
commenced : 

"O,  Cousin  Alice,  how  very  good  it  was  of 
you  to  send  me  that  fifty  dollars  to  Chicago! 
And  then  to  ask  us  down  to  the  plantation  for 
this  lovely  visit!  I  only  wish  I  could  ever  do 
something  for  you  all !  But  you  will  not  let  me, 
I  fear." 

"O,  yes,  I  will,  too!  But  you've  made  right 
much  pleasure  for  us  in  coming  here,  I  assure 
you.  Cousin  Annie,  you  don't  understand  how 
sad  and  lonely  we've  been  since  dear  Ned  left  us ! 
We  miss  him  so !" 

"Don't  I  know?  I  know!  Yes,  I  know.  And 
just  think !  I  lost  my  boys,  both  my  boys !"  She 
might  have  added  such  another  tale  of  woe  to 


258  IRENE  LISCOMB 

these  losses  that  Alice  would  have  thought  her 
quite  demented,  and  could  not  have  believed  it. 
She  had  kept  most  all  of  these  sorrows  hidden  in 
the  past;  they  should  remain  buried!  That  was 
best. 

"Well,  Cousin  Alice,  what  I  was  going  to  ask 
by  way  of  favor  is  this.  The  girls  want  Rene 
and  me  to  go  to  New  York  this  winter  to  visit 
them,  but  we  could  not  leave  father  and  mother 
alone  here  with  only  the  servants.  Would  you 
be  willing  to  come  and  stay  a  few  weeks  with 
them?  Bring  the  little  one  of  course." 

"I  shall  gladly  come  and  do  everything  I  can 
for  their  comfort.  Count  on  me !" 

There  were  many  delightful  drives  during 
their  last  days  together,  and  some  pretty  sketches 
made  of  red  sumach,  brown-eyed  Susans,  poke- 
berry  and  alderberry.  Each  one  of  them  wanted 
to  paint  the  old  lone  chimney,  all  that  was  left 
after  a  fire  had  consumed  a  cabin,  down  near  the 
old  chateau.  It  was  sketched  also.  Rene  sug- 
gested one  day: 

"Let  us  have  an  Ivy  Day  party.  I  have  grown 
quite  a  vine  from  a  tiny  spray  off  the  grave  of 
Mendelssohn,  which  I  got  at  Berlin." 

"Aha!"  cried  a  voice.  "Drei  Mark  als  Geld- 
strafe  ist  gegen  das  Vergehen  der  youngen 
Amerikanerin  aufgelegt!" 

"No,  no !  I  did  not  take  the  ivy.  It  was  given 
me  by  the  sexton  of  the  cemetery.  So  you  can- 
not fine  me  for  a  misdemeanor.  I  can  keep  my 
seventy-three  and  a  quarter  cents!"  said  Rene 
exultingly. 

"Let  us  plant  a  vine  of  that  ivy  at  the  base  of 


IRENE   LISCOMB  259 

that  old  chimney,  with  ceremony,  girls,"  pro- 
posed Alice,  "and  let  Rene  do  the  talking,  for  I 
should  not  feel  so  sure  about  the  getting  of  that 
ivy,  you  see,  and  she  seems  very  certain  that  she 
did  not  sneak  it." 

All  laughed  and  proceeded  to  cross-question 
her,  but  Rene  adhered  closely  to  her  declaration 
that  the  sexton  gave  her  the  ivy  in  the  cemetery 
in  Berlin,  Germany,  and  from  it  she  had  grown 
a  goodly  vine. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  two  New  York 
guests  should  sing  something  appropriate  and 
the  invited  guests  of  the  neighborhood  should 
partake  with  them  an  ice  and  cake  in  the  open 
air  under  the  grand  old  oaks. 

The  planting  of  the  ivy  was  done  in  the  pres- 
ence of  their  most  intimate  friends,  the  Quinell 
and  the  Jonas  Wilson  families,  the  New  York 
guests,  Annie  Wood  and  the  Liscomb  family. 
Rene's  words  were  spoken  with  clearness  and 
neat  gravity  as  follows: 

"Dear  Friends:  We  are  assembled  this  glori- 
ous autumn  afternoon  to  commemorate  the 
happy  event  of  our  reunion  once  more  in  the 
dear  old  Southland,  after  our  heartrending  sacri- 
fices to  war.  This  ivy  which  we  plant  is  our 
memorial !  It  is  from  the  grave  of  the  great 
Mendelssohn,  at  Berlin,  Germany." 

Each  lady  present  sprinkled  a  handful  of  soil 
upon  the  root.  Then  the  gentlemen  present  fin- 
ished the  planting  of  the  vine. 

Singing  finished  the  ceremony. 


260  IRENE  LISCOMB 


XXVII. 

IN   NEW   YORK — A  WEDDING. 

The  young  ladies  from  New  York  City  and 
Annie  Miller  Wood  from  the  same  State,  took 
leave  of  their  friends  on  the  plantation,  with  the 
hope  of  meeting  them  very  soon  again.  The 
journey  North  was  without  event  of  importance, 
and  not  far  from  the  suburbs  of  the  city  Annie 
and  her  daughter  changed  cars  for  another  road 
that  passed  their  town. 

It  was  a  pretty  little  town,  now  and  hence- 
forth, to  be  considered  her  home  town.  She 
hastened  to  visit  the  cemetery,  and  knelt  beside 
the  grave  of  her  beloved  husband — more  sor- 
rowfully mourned  than  if  no  misery  and  bitter- 
ness had  ever  come  between  them. 

Indeed  here  the  thought  of  him  only  as  her 
first  and  last  lover,  the  handsome  lieutenant,  the 
dashy,  bright  boy  in  the  United  States  uniform, 
the  father  of  her  beautiful  daughter,  now  weep- 
ing with  her.  For  his  sake,  and  for  Ned  Lis- 
comb's  sake,  she  venerated  the  memory  of  Ser- 
geant Henry  Wood,  whose  grave  she  also  vis- 
ited, as  well  as  that  of  the  mother-in-law,  on  the 
same  lot. 

She  was  soon  busily  occupied  with  the  work 
of  preparing  the  wardrobe  of  her  child  and  her- 
self, in  view  of  their  coming  winter  South.  The 


IRENE   LISCOMB  261 

widow,  her  friend  in  Chicago,  was  coming  to 
live  in  her  home  during  her  absence,  along  with  a 
couple  of  lodgers  who  had  been  in  the  house  for 
years. 

The  widow  had  given  up  her  business,  and 
had  come  to  take  a  rest,  and  to  visit  New  York 
City,  as  she  had  never  seen  it.  The  two  friends 
had  a  few  outings,  and  much  reminiscing  to- 
gether before  Mrs.  Wood's  return  to  the  South. 

Alice  and  Rene  were  not  long  in  getting  off 
to  New  York  City  after  the  arrival  of  Annie. 
Arriving  at  their  station,  they  were  met  by  their 
friends  and  escorted  to  the  delightful  home  of 
their  brother,  who  was  a  very  important  agent 
of  tobacco  and  cotton  companies,  a  long  time 
resident  of  the  city. 

Being  late  in  the  winter  already,  their  outings 
were  few.  One  was  to  the  sanitarium  on  the 
Hudson,  where  they  and  their  parents  had  so 
anxiously  watched  over  Ned  and  fanned  to  life 
the  faint  spark  of  vitality  in  his  wrecked  body 
after  Chickamauga  Creek. 

A  visit  to  the  great  Catholic  Cathedral,  to  the 
grandest  hotels  of  the  whole  world,  to  studios, 
to  see  exhibitions  of  new  pictures;  to  bazaars,  to 
dressmaking  parlors,  to  theater  and  concerts. 
And  then  to  hear  grand  opera!  which  the  Lis- 
comb  ladies  had  not  enjoyed  since  they  last  heard 
one  in  Europe.  The  anticipation  was  a  joy  in 
itself,  for  they  had  time  to  contemplate  it  for 
an  impatient  few  days  before  the  event. 

Rene  was  studying  the  programme  of  singers, 
and  read  the  name  of  the  grand  tenor,  Sig. 
Paulas  Mascori.  She  was  thrilled  with  emo- 


262  IRENE   LISCOMB 

tion!  Now  she  could  soon  know  if  he  were 
really  Captain  Budd  Stone,  her  one  time  be- 
trothed lover.  She  hardly  heard  the  first  sing- 
ers, in  her  fever  of  anxiety  to  see  and  hear  the 
grand  tenor. 

When  he  appeared,  and  the  audience  made  it 
known  how  he  was  appreciated,  what  a  favorite 
he  was,  Rene  could  not  conceal  her  excitement. 
And  when  he  sang,  all  doubts  of  his  identity 
with  her  earlier  lover  vanished.  She  joined  the 
rest  in  claiming  an  encore. 

She  and  Alice  turned  to  their  friends,  saying 
enthusiastically  in  one  breath  : 

"O,  he  is  grand !  What  a  superb  voice !  What 
a  fine,  handsome  man  he  is!" 

When  he  was  again  off  the  stage,  one  of  the 
New  York  girls  said  to  Rene: 

"I  must  tell  you  about  him.  It  is  told  that 
once  he  had  some  sort  of  matrimonial  experi- 
ence, very  romantic,  and  very  tragic,  and  withal 
very  mysterious,  in  his  younger  days.  And  that 
is  the  reason  he  has  never  married.  It  almost 
wrecked  him  for  several  years." 

"Really,  that  is  interesting!"  said  Alice.  "Tell 
us  more  about  it.  Do  you  know  more  about 
him?" 

"No,  for  another  tale,  a  contradiction  in  some 
measure  of  the  one  of  his  marriage,  relates  that 
something  happened  to  prevent  the  wedding — the 
interference  of  her  brother,  or  some  such  thing. 
You  know,  there  are  always  stories  circulated, 
to  gratify  the  mad  public,  when  a  great  actor  or 
a  grand  tenor  appears.  Simply  advertising 
schemes," 


IRENE   LISCOMB  263 

Rene  heard  little  of  the  opera,  but  she  was 
familiar  with  it,  having  heard  it  before. 

Alice  and  Rene  kept  their  own  council  about 
the  past  of  Sig.  Mascori. 

That  night  when  the  others  slept,  Rene  took 
the  old  letter  that  the  silver  ice  pitcher  had  so 
long  preserved  against  fire  and  destruction,  from 
its  aged  envelope  to  assure  herself  it  had  not  van- 
ished brever,  and  pressed  it  to  her  lips  again  and 
again. 

Next  morning  she  scanned  the  early  newspa- 
per to  f.nd  out  at  which  hotel  the  opera  com- 
pany wa«  entertained,  and  accordingly  addressed 
a  very  short  missive.  She  enclosed  the  old,  old 
letter  of  txplanation  from  Budd  Stone,  saying: 

"DEAR  SIR: — 

"Your  leter  of  ten  years  ago  only  reached 
me  three  years  ago.  Your  whereabouts  were 
unknown  to  lae  until  last  evening  at  the  opera. 
You  are  forgi\en! 

"As  ever, 

"IRENE  LISCOMB." 

She  gave  her  present  street  and  number  in 
the  city,  mailed  tfe  letter  herself.  In  a  couple 
days,  when  the  others  were  out  for  their  morn- 
ing's airing,  Sig.  I'aulus  Mascori  called  upon 
and  renewed  his  betrothal  with  his  former  prom- 
ised bride,  as  Budd  Svone. 

Not  long  afterwards,  he  called  again,  accom- 
panied by  his  best  friead.  The  family  of  the 
New  York  girls,  Rene  a»J  Alice,  went  with  Sig. 


264  IRENE  LISCOMB 

Mascori  to  "the  Little  Church  Around  the  Cor- 
ner,   where  there  was  a  quiet  wedding. 

As  soon  as  the  grand  tenor's  engagement  with 
the  opera  company  was  ended,  one  of  the  very- 
happiest  couples  in  the  whole  world  sailed  away 
to  pass  a  summer  among  the  English  Lakes. 
Then  the  marriage  was  published. 


THE  END. 


OUR    NEWEST    ISSUES 


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By  Esmee  Walton. 
Aurora  of  Poverty  Hill 1.50 


By  Josephine  Merwin  Cook. 
Bandana  Days 75 


By  Howard  James. 
The  Wraith  of  Knopf  and  Other  Stories i.oo 


By  George  Fuller  Golden. 
My  Lady  Vaudeville  and  Her  White  Rats. ...  2.00 


By  J.  A.  Salmon- Maclean. 

Leisure  Moments j.oo 

A  Stricken  City , .50 


OUR    NEWEST    ISSUES 


By  James  A.  Ritchey,  Ph.D. 
Psychology  of  the  Will  .....................  $1.50 


By  Charles  Hallock,  M.  A. 
Peerless  Alaska  .  .  i.oo 


By  Dwight  Edwards  Marvin. 

Prof.  Slagg  of  London 1.50 

The  Christman  1.50 


By  Caroline  Mays  Brevard. 
Literature  of  the  South 1.50 


By  Susan  Archer  Weiss. 
Home  Life  of  Poe  (sd  ed.) 1.50 


By  Irving  Wilson  Voorhees,  M.D. 
Teachings  of  Thomas  Henry  Huxley  (2d  ed.) .   i.oo 


By  Mrs.  Annie  Riley  Hale. 
Rooseveltian  Fact  and  Fable i.oo 


By  Hon.  D.  W.  Higgins. 
The  Mystic  Spring 1.50 


By  Edith  Nicholl  Ellison. 
The   Burnt-Offering    1.25 


Sam  S.  &  Lee  Shubert 

direct  the  following  theatres  and  theatrical 
attractions  in  America : 


Hippodrome,  Lyric,  Casino, 
Dalys,  Lew  Fields,  Herald 
Square  and  Princess  Thea- 
tres, New  York. 

Garrick  Theatre,  Chicago. 
Lyric  Theatre,  Philadelphia. 
Shubert  Theatre,  Brooklyn. 

Belasco  Theatre,  Washing- 
ton. 

Belasco  Theatre,  Pittsburg. 
Shubert  Theatre,  Newark. 
Shubert  Theatre,  Utica. 

Grand  Opera  House,  Syra- 
cuse. 

Baker  Theatre,  Rochester. 
Opera  House,  Providence. 

Worcester  Theatre,  Worces- 
ter. 

Hyperion  Theatre,  New 
Haven. 

Lyceum  Theatre,  Buffalo. 
Colonial  Theatre,  Cleveland. 
Rand's  Opera  House,  Troy. 
Garrick  Theatre,  St.  Louis. 

Sam  S.  Shubert  Theatre, 
Norfolk,  Va. 

Shubert  Theatre,  Columbus. 
Lyric,  Cincinnati. 


Mary  Anderson  Theatre, 
LouisTille. 

New  Theatre,  Richmond, 
Va. 

New  Theatre,  Lexington,  Ky. 

New  Theatre,  Mobile. 

New  Theatre,  Atlanta. 

Shubert  Theatre,  Milwau- 
kee. 

Lyric  Theatre,  New  Orleans. 

New  Marlowe  Theatre, 
Chattanooga. 

New  Theatre,  Detroit. 

Grand  Opera  House,  Dav- 
enport, Iowa. 

New  Theatre,  Toronto.' 

New  Sothern  Theatre,  Den- 
ver. 

Sam  S.  Shubert  Theatre, 
Kansas  City. 

Majestic  Theatre,  Los  An- 
geles. 

Belasco  Theatre,  Portland. 
Shubert  Theatre,  Seattle. 

Majestic  Theatre,  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

E.  H.  Sothern  &  Julia  Mar- 
lowe in  repertoire. 


Margaret  Anglin  and  Henry 
Miller. 

Virginia  Harned. 

Mary  Mannering  in  "  Glori- 
ous Betsy." 

Mme.  Alia  Nazimova. 

Thos.  W.  Ross  in  "The 
Other  Girl." 

Cecelia  Loftus. 
Clara  Bloodgood. 
Blanche  Ring. 
Alexander  Cam 
Digby  Bell. 

"The  Girl  Behind  the 
Counter." 

"The  Light  Eternal.* 
"  The  Snow  Man." 

Blanche  Bates  in  "  The  Girl 
from  the  Golden  West." 

Dayid  Warfield  in  "The 
Music  Master.'* 

"  The  Rose  of  the  Rancho," 
with  Rose  Starr. 

HARRISON    GRAY   FISKB'S 

ATTRACTIONS. 
Mrs.   Fiske  in  "The    New 
York  Idea." 


•Shore  Acres." 

Louis  Mann  in  "The  White 
Hen." 

"The  Road  to  Yesterday." 

Henry  Woodruff  in  "  Brown 
of  Harvard." 

"The  Secret  Orchard,"  by 
Charming  Pollock. 

De  Wolf  Hopper  in   "  Hap- 
py land." 

Eddie  Foy  in  "  The  Orchid." 

Marguerite  Clark,  in  a  new 
opera. 

"The   Social  Whirl,"  with 
Chas.  J.  Ross. 

James  T.  Powers  in  "The 
Blue  Moon." 

Bertha  Kalich. 
"Leah  Kleschna." 

"The  Man  on  the  Box." 

Cyril  Scott  in  "  The  Prince 
Chap." 

"  Mrs.  Temple's  Telegram." 
"The  Three  of  Us." 


You  cannot  go  wrong  in  selecting  one  of 
these  play-houses  for  an  evening's  entertain- 
ment in  whatever  city  you  may  happen  to  be. 


BOOKS  YOU  MVST  READ 
SOONER.   OR   LATER 

Book  by  the  Author  of 

A  Girl  and  the  Devil ! 


We  beg  to  announce  for  autumn  a  new  novel  from 
the  pen  of  JEANNETTE  LLEWELLYN  EDWARDS,  entitled 

LOVE  IN  THE  TROPICS 

The  scene  of  Miss  Edwards'  new  work  is  laid  in 
strange  lands,  and  a  treat  may  be  confidently  prom- 
ised the  wide  reading  public  whose  interest  in  her  first 
book  has  caused  it  to  rim  through  over  a  dozen  editions. 

-  LOVE  IN  THE  TROPICS" 

be   ready   about  ffotfember  1,   and 
particulars  tuill  be  duty  announced. 


The  New  Womanhood 

BV  WlNNIFRED  H.  COOLEY. 
$1.25-, 

No  more  original,  striking  and  brilliant  "treatise  on 
the  subject  indicated  by  the  title  has  been  given  the 
vast  public  which  is  watching  the  widening  of  woman's 
sphere.  Mrs.  Cooley  is  a  lecturer  and  writer  of  many 
years  experience;  she  is  in  the  vanguard  of  the  move- 
ment and  no  one  is  better  qualified  to  speak  to  the  great 
heart  of  womankind, 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  043  665     9 


